C 366
There was a huge pulley and a large box that could hold people at the entrance to the vertical cave. The box was so big that it looked like more than ten people could get in at once.
Judging by the length of the rope connected to the basket, it was clear that it was at least a hundred feet deep.
It was such an unbelievably deep cave. Even if someone came this far, they wouldn't dare go down.
No matter how you got down, if the rope was cut from above, you would never see the light of day again. There weren't many people in the world willing to take the risk of descending into the vertical cave.
One of them was Pyo Wol.
Pyo Wol was not afraid of the endless vertical cave.
It was similar to the place where he was reborn as an assassin.
The damp wind from underground, the musty smell, everything was familiar to him.
Even with his eyes closed, he could tell what kind of environment this was.
This kind of environment was no different from his hometown.
That's why he threw himself into the vertical cave without a moment's hesitation.
Whoosh!
Pyo Wol injected his internal energy into the Black Dragon Robe. Then, the Black Dragon Robe spread out and filled with air.
As a result, his falling speed was greatly reduced. However, it was still not a speed that ordinary people could handle.
An ordinary person wouldn't even dare to open his eyes due to the rough wind blowing from below.
Pyo Wol, however, kept his eyes wide open and looked down at his feet.
Everything below him was engulfed in darkness, making it impossible to distinguish between empty space and the ground.
Hitting the ground like this would result in serious injury, no matter how much the Black Dragon Robe slowed his fall. However, Pyo Wol's expression remained calm.
He was mentally counting numbers.
Two hundred and forty, two hundred and sixty, two hundred and eighty, and now...
Pyo Wol shot out soul reaping threads one by one.
Thud! Thud!
The soul reaping threads stuck to the wall and slowed his fall.
When the soul reaping threads couldn't withstand the speed and the weight and broke, he repeated the process.
After shooting out the soul reaping threads about ten times, Pyo Wol finally came to a complete stop.
Pyo Wol looked down while holding the soul reaping threads.
A faint boundary between the darkness and the ground was visible about ten metres below.
Pyo Wol estimated the depth of the ground by the length of the rope wound around the pulley. To estimate the depth, he also counted the numbers as he fell.
Pyo Wol's sense was accurate.
He stopped at the right moment.
He retracted the soul reaping threads and descended along the vertical cave wall.
Four warriors were guarding the floor of the vertical cave.
One of them raised his head to look up into the vertical cave. But all he could see was pitch-black darkness.
His companion looked at him strangely.
"What is it?"
"No, I thought I heard a noise from above."
"It must be the wind."
"It sounded like the rustle of a cloth."
"You must have heard it wrong. Isn't the wind strong enough?"
"Is it?"
Finally, the warrior who had been looking up at the cave scratched his head and looked back at his companions.
His companions said.
"You begin to hear hallucinations when you've been here a long time. They say the sound of the wind sometimes sounds like the wailing of a ghost."
"Do you think so,too? I do."
"I really don't understand why we have to stand guard here. Along with the guards, we have set up the Thousand Section Illusion Array outside."
"Don't you know our master's personality? Stop talking nonsense and concentrate on the guard duty. If word gets out that we've been careless, we'll be punished."
"Hmph!"
The guards stopped talking and returned to their posts.
They couldn't have imagined that a black shadow was crawling over their heads.
Incredible strength and a well-trained body allowed the shadow to hang upside down from the ceiling and move forward.
Pyo Wol descended to the ground only when he was out of sight of the guards.
"Phew!"
Descending more than three hundred chambers without any help was not an easy task for him.
It even caused Pyo Wol to feel a temporary loss of strength.
Pyo Wol paused for a moment to catch his breath.
Fortunately, he recovered after a short while.
Then Pyo Wol started moving again.
They used naturally formed caves.
The landscape resembled the underground chambers where he had honed his martial arts skills.
A series of narrow tunnels, like an ant's nest, would undoubtedly eventually lead to a massive underground chamber.
Are they training assassins here as well?
It was quite possible.
This environment was ideal for raising assassins.
Pyo Wol cautiously stepped forward, wary of any possible traps or mechanisms.
Since the external security was considered impenetrable, there were no internal guards.
This allowed Pyo Wol to move freely.
He walked through the tunnels for a long time.
The darkness of the tunnel, without even torches, would increase a person's fear. But Pyo Wol, who had grown up in such an environment, felt nothing.
While an ordinary martial artist would need a torch to see, Pyo Wol's eyes could pierce through the darkness.
Just as he had expected, after walking for a while, Pyo Wol came upon a huge underground chamber.
In the centre of the chamber, about ten military tents had been erected, and many martial artists were bustling about.
Numerous torches were lit around the tents.
The long shadows cast by the torches made the moving figures appear eerie.
Pyo Wol blended in seamlessly with them.
They weren't alarmed because they couldn't imagine anyone sneaking in from the outside.
Pyo Wol disguised his face with a facial bone changing technique. He also changed the colour of his Black Dragon robe to match their clothes.
That was enough.
The martial artists near the tents saw Pyo Wol as one of their own without feeling any incongruity.
The middle-aged warrior looked at his subordinates and spoke.
"Let's go when you're ready. We also need to feed the pigs."
"Yes!"
The subordinates loaded a large barrel onto the cart.
The large barrel contained some kind of gruel, the origin of which was unclear. The smell was so foul that it seemed impossible for a human to eat it.
In fact, it was a suitable meal for pigs.
The warriors pulled the wagon and made their way north to the underground chamber. A large iron door was standing there.
Clank!
They opened a huge padlock, the size of an adult's torso, and entered the pitch-black chamber. Dozens of iron doors, just big enough for a person to pass through, lined the left and right sides of the chamber.
A terrible stench seeped from the gaps between the iron doors.
The warriors who had pulled the wagon frowned. They opened a small window in the first iron door.
Inside the cramped space, a person could be seen crouching.
His hair was dishevelled, his body emaciated, and he wore tattered clothes that barely covered his genitals.
With no separate place for waste, the man was surrounded by excrement. He looked no different from a beast.
The middle-aged warrior, Hwang Akchu, knocked on the iron door and said, "It's time to eat.
A subordinate scooped the unidentified gruel into a bowl and threw it into the cell.
Clatter!
The bowl shook and the gruel splashed all over the place. The crouching man quickly grabbed the bowl of porridge.
Even though there was nothing else in it, he ate quickly, as if someone were going to steal it from him.
A sinister smile appeared on Hwang Akchu's face as he watched.
"Huh! What a sight. Even though they made a name for themselves in Kangho, they are no different from animals."
"Heh! Who wouldn't be like that? No matter how great they were, their status here means nothing."
"Indeed!"
Hwang Akchu nodded. The person trapped behind the iron door was a warrior. He had earned the nickname 'Lightning Flying Sword' in Kangho.
He was a fierce competitor, a warrior of noble descent who had roamed Kangho to prove his strength. But now he was living a life worse than a beast, trapped like this.
At first he refused to eat the gruel provided here. But no man could endure hunger.
To survive, he had to eat the gruel, and eventually he was tamed like a pig.
Hwang Akchu and his subordinates fed the gruel to the other prisoners. Those who received the gruel ate it quickly, as if someone were going to steal it from them.
Hwang Akchu and his subordinates laughed as they watched.
Pyo Wol stood behind them, watching the people locked in the cells.
They were all consumed with despair.
From the conversation between Hwang Akchu and his subordinates, it was clear that all the prisoners were once renowned warriors of the Kangho.
It was impossible to know how they had ended up here. But their condition suggested that this had been going on for some time.
"Please, save me."
"Argh! A spider bit me."
"Waaaaah!"
As Hwang Akchu and his subordinates passed by, the prisoners screamed in agony.
Some were begging, while others were screaming in pain. Listening to their cries, Hwang Akchu and his subordinates laughed heartily.
Even the toughest man would go mad if he were locked up in a place like this for a long time.
Those who screamed were losing their minds, gradually going mad as their mental state crumbled.
The desperation in their cries was vivid.
Their howls echoed loudly off the cave walls, as if they were the cries of those who had fallen into the depths of hell.
It was a scene that seemed straight out of hell, if such a place existed.
Ordinary people would go mad just by stepping into such a place for a moment. But Hwang Akchu and his subordinates went on calmly.
They distributed food to each room, but Hwang Akchu and his subordinates did not stop and kept moving.
At the end of the corridor another large iron door blocked their way.
Clank!
They unlocked the door and entered.
Hwang Akchu and his subordinates, who had been taunting the prisoners, took clothes from their pockets and covered their mouths and noses.
Tension could be seen on their faces.
Hwang Akchu warned them,
"Do not inhale a single breath of the smoke coming from here. One mistake and you could become a lung patient".
"Yes!"
Tightly covering their mouths and noses, they entered the room behind the massive iron door.
Pyo Wol followed them, also covering his mouth and nose.
Upon entering the room, it became clear why Hwang Akchu had been so insistent.
A fragrance that stimulated the human soul wafted from the room behind the iron door.
Aphrodisiac?
He felt like his mind was being carried away the moment he smelled it.
There was no way a drug that emitted such a scent could be normal.
This was more than just an aphrodisiac.
It was undoubtedly a forbidden drug that was a destroyer of the human mind.
In Kangho, those who used this kind of drug were publicly denounced.
Even the Tang sect, known for its hidden weapons and poisons, did not deal with such drugs.
Hwang Akchu frowned and said,
"We will become addicted if we stay here too long. Finish distributing the food quickly and get out of here.
"Yes!"
His subordinates moved quickly, now with an air of urgency.
For the moment, their clothes blocked out the toxic fumes. But if they stayed too long, they would inevitably be affected.
There were not many prisoners here, but they were all formidable poison users.
Therefore, the forbidden drugs were used to destroy their minds.
"First, this one..."
Swoosh!
Hwang Akchu opened the window of the first room.
A man could be seen huddled in the narrow space, unable to even stretch his legs.
As the window opened, he stared out with eyes filled with madness.
His eyes were filled with the rage of a demon that had crawled up from hell. They terrified Hwang Akchu and his subordinates.
"Kill me. I will kill you. I will tear you apart with my hooks.
He kept repeating the same words.
Hwang Akchu clucked his tongue.
"Hmm!"
Despite the constant inhalation of the drug-laced air, his mind had not yet completely collapsed.
On the contrary, his hatred for those who had imprisoned him was growing even stronger. This terrified Hwang Akchu and his subordinates.
Pyo Wol looked at the man behind the iron door.
By chance, the man's gaze was also directed at Pyo Wol.
Their eyes met in the air.
So Geoksan!
Side Note(Hehe, it's time to reunite bitch!!)