Episode 461

The Endless Prison (1)

Gu Mun-hye bit her lip slightly.

 

Although she had a generally favorable opinion of all the martial artists in the Celestial Demon Troupe, she particularly disliked Won Mu-ak.

 

She hesitated to create something like the Endless Prison, but due to unavoidable circumstances, she had no choice but to proceed.

 

If it weren’t for the task of overseeing the Endless Prison, she would never have allowed someone like Won Mu-ak to return to active duty.

 

That’s how much she disliked him. Yet, despite her personal feelings, it was undeniable that Won Mu-ak was the most suitable person to manage the prison.

 

Won Mu-ak looked down at her and asked again.

 

“So, when are you leaving, Saintess?”

 

“I plan to leave as soon as Jin Ryeong returns.”

 

“Heh heh! A wise decision. This place is unfit for a noble saintess like you. It’s only fit for trash like us.”

 

“If you just do as I’ve asked, there will be no reason for me to come back here.”

 

“Of course. How could I refuse the Saintess’s request? Don’t worry. I’ll manage everything without a hitch.”

 

“Then I’ll leave as soon as Jin Ryeong returns.”

 

“Heh heh! When you return, please convey my regards to the new Troupe Leader. Tell him that the Endless Prison is in good hands and he doesn’t need to worry.”

 

“I will.”

 

Gu Mun-hye rose from her seat.

 

After facing Won Mu-ak for so long, her nerves were on edge, and her head throbbed painfully.

 

Honestly, she didn’t want to stay in the same space as him any longer.

 

Gu Mun-hye turned her back on Won Mu-ak and stepped outside.

 

As she stepped into the hallway, a faint light welcomed her.

 

The ceiling of the hallway was dotted with Night Pearl Stones to illuminate the darkness.

 

No matter how high-quality these pearls were, they couldn’t brighten the surroundings as much as a torch. But, they were used precisely because they were easier to maintain.

 

Along the ceiling lined with Night Pearls, tightly sealed iron doors stretched endlessly on both sides of the hallway.

 

“Ugh!”

 

“Kill me!”

 

The faint sounds of people groaning in pain leaked through the gaps in the iron doors.

 

A shadow passed over Gu Mun-hye’s eyes.

 

As the Saintess, it pained her to see innocent people imprisoned and tortured in this hellish prison.

 

Most of those locked in the Endless Prison were individuals who had committed grave crimes against the Celestial Demon Troupe.

 

They couldn’t be executed outright, yet leaving them free was too risky, so they were permanently isolated from the world in the Endless Prison.

 

Sigh…

 

Just as Gu Mun-hye exhaled deeply and took a step forward—

 

“Ugh!”

 

Frowning slightly, Gu Mun-hye approached the door and opened a small window. Inside, she saw a man leaning against the wall, breathing laboriously.

 

His body was covered in countless wounds, like tattoos carved into his flesh.

 

Dried blood had crusted over the wounds, and swarms of insects crawled around the sores.   His cheeks were sunken, and the bones of his limbs were visible, making him seem that even the slightest touch might snuff out his fragile life.

 

But his eyes burned fiercely.

 

Like a candle piercing the darkness, his gaze remained sharp and cold, shining even in the abyss.

 

Gu Mun-hye couldn’t help but feel a pang of admiration.

 

‘Seo Jong-myeong, was it?’

 

The man who had led countless martial artists of the Jade Heaven Alliance to their deaths in the Siege Fortress.

 

He was a true warrior who held out for seven days and nights against overwhelming odds.

 

Even Yang Gwang-baek, who had personally subdued him, had been so impressed that he ordered him to be spared. That’s why he had been sent to the Endless Prison.

 

Being imprisoned here didn’t mean he received treatment or care. The Endless Prison was not a place of mercy.

 

And so, Seo Jong-myeong was dying.

 

With every passing day, hour, and moment, he was slipping closer to death. Yet his spirit remained unbroken.

 

A man of indomitable will.

 

Even as an enemy, Gu Mun-hye couldn’t help but deeply respect him.

 

Sensing her gaze, Seo Jong-myeong lifted his head with great effort and looked at her.

 

“Saintess… is it?”

 

Having visited the Celestial Demon Troupe years ago as part of a diplomatic envoy, he recognized her immediately.

 

“I regret seeing you like this, Great Hero Seo!”

 

“Hmph! Why not just kill me?”

 

“It wasn’t my decision.”

 

“Then… kill me now.”

 

“I don’t have the authority for that.”

 

“Grr… So you’ll keep me alive just to humiliate me?”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Gu Mun-hye bit her lip as she apologized.

 

It wasn’t her fault to begin with, but she apologized because she believed that keeping him alive in this place was an insult in itself.

 

Seo Jong-myeong was a true martial artist.

 

He would rather break than bend his knee to the Celestial Demon Troupe.

 

‘How many martial artists like him exist in the Celestial Demon Troupe?’

 

There might be some, but she doubted many could maintain their pride in the face of death like he did.

 

Sigh…

 

Thud.

 

Gu Mun-hye sighed and closed the small window. She couldn’t bear to meet his gaze any longer.

 

She walked past Seo Jong-myeong’s cell and continued down the corridor.

 

Finally, she arrived before a massive iron door, far removed from the other cells.

 

The door was enormous. And thick.

 

Forged from ten-thousand-year black iron, it was a full two cheok (about 60 cm) thick—and there were three such doors layered together.

 

Gu Mun-hye’s eyes darkened as she stared at it.

 

Beyond these doors lay the true reason the Endless Prison had been built below the Kongtong Mountain.

 

Seo Jong-myeong and the other prisoners were merely secondary.

 

“Haah…”

 

Gu Mun-hye sighed again.

 

The once-glorious Kongtong Sect’s base was now nothing but ruins. Crumbling walls and shattered buildings were the only remnants of its former size.

 

At first glance, it was hard to tell that a prison was hidden below the ruins. However, Lee Gwak quickly noticed that a newly constructed building had recently been erected among the ruins.

 

Though it was cleverly disguised as a part of the ruins, the building had clearly been built not long ago. There were no people at the entrance, but the small windows gave off a sense of someone watching from within.

 

Anyone approaching the ruins of Kongtong Mountain would easily notice the building’s strategic placement.

 

Lee Gwak turned to Ki Jin-hwi and asked,

 

“Is there a way to enter the Inferno without their noticing?”

 

“There’s a hidden ventilation shaft,” Ki Jin-hwi replied.

 

The endless prison was deep underground, and people needed constant supply of fresh air to survive. So the Celestial Demon Troupe built a ventilation shaft far from the Kongtong Sect’s base to keep it hidden.

 

“Thick iron bars and fearsome mechanisms have been installed to prevent intruders, but with your expertise, getting through shouldn’t be a problem.”

 

Ki Jin-hwi knew that Lee Gwak was highly skilled with mechanisms.

 

In terms of mechanical expertise alone, Lee Gwak was among the top five in the world. He could decipher the workings of most traps at a glance and find ways to bypass them.

 

Ki Jin-hwi led Lee Gwak and Lee Soo-ah to the ventilation shaft.

 

The entrance was cleverly hidden between large boulders and impossible to find unless one knew its exact location.

 

As Ki Jin-hwi had said, the shaft was blocked by iron bars as thick as a child’s arm. Made of ten-thousand-year-old cold iron, the bars were nearly indestructible, even to legendary swords.

 

To cut through them, one needed to manifest sword qi.

 

Swoosh!

 

However, Lee Gwak’s blade lacked even the faintest trace of sword qi.

 

But, with a single silent slash—

 

Screech!

 

With a spine-chilling sound, the thick iron bars were cut like tofu. In an instant, he had cut through the iron bars and secured enough space for a person to enter.

 

 

 

For an ordinary person, attempting to pass through it would be suicidal; one misstep would send them plummeting into the abyss. But for someone with Lee Gwak’s skills, it was no obstacle.

 

Lee Soo-ah, trained by the assassin Han So-cheon, was also adept at scaling walls.

 

The problem was Ki Jin-hwi.

 

Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t have been an issue for him, but he was severely injured. Every step was agony, and climbing a sheer, endless drop was beyond him. The shaft wasn’t wide enough for Lee Gwak to carry him down either.

 

Lee Gwak turned to him.

 

“I’d love to go with you, but I’d only be a burden. Understood, Captain. I’ll wait here for your return. Please rescue Hero Seo safely.”

 

“We’ll bring him back without fail.”

 

Sigh… “Go ahead. I’ll keep watch here and recover my strength.”

 

Lee Gwak and Lee Soo-ah nodded and entered the ventilation shaft.

 

The dark, narrow passageway seemed to trigger primal fears in anyone who entered. However, for Lee Gwak and Lee Soo-ah, it was no different from walking down a well-known path.

 

Using wall-running techniques, they descended swiftly.

 

Along the way, they encountered tricky traps and mechanisms, but  Lee Gwak disabled them effortlessly.

 

Beyond a certain point, there were no more traps.

 

The Celestial Demon Troupe’s martial artists had installed them as a precaution against infiltration, but they hadn’t anticipated that anyone would actually attempt to infiltrate. Therefore, the defenses were relatively lax.

 

Thud.

 

Finally, both of them reached the bottom.

 

They couldn’t be certain of the depth, but they estimated that they had descended at least 900 meters, the equivalent height of a mountain.

 

“Whoa…”

 

Lee Gwak and Lee Soo-ah looked around in astonishment.

 

Under the faint glow of night pearls, an enormous cave stretched before them. At its center, smaller tunnels branched out in all directions, resembling a fragment of hell.

 

In the middle of the cave, a group of guards stood watch, martial artists of the Celestial Demon Troupe.

 

Their attention was fixed on the central passage leading to the surface. Anyone infiltrating would have to use that route, so they paid little attention to other areas.

 

Lee Gwak whispered to Lee Soo-ah.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

“Mm.”

 

It wasn’t yet time to cause a disturbance.

 

At least, not until they secured Seo Jong-myeong.

 

Lee Gwak moved like the wind, swift and silent. Lee Soo-ah followed like a shadow, her footsteps as light as a cat’s.

 

Her movement techniques had been taught by Han So-cheon.

 

 

 

Han So-cheon never trained his children in assassination techniques for fear that they would become killers.

 

Instead, she passed on various skills, one of which was stealthy movement, a crucial skill for any assassin.

 

A technique that allowed movement without a sound or trace was essential for assassins. Lee Soo-ah had mastered it diligently.

 

The patrolling guards didn’t notice them.

 

As he moved, Lee Gwak scanned the surroundings with sharp eyes.

 

The Endless Prison was still new, with many flaws and vulnerabilities. But if someone established a proper system here over time, it would become a true hell.

 

A nightmare from which no one could escape.

 

“I had no idea such a place existed below the Kongtong Mountain.”

 

Heightening his senses, Lee Gwak advanced cautiously.

 

Martial Artists roamed the prison, but Lee Gwak detected their movements in advance and avoided them.

 

Sometimes, they almost got caught, but Lee Gwak and Lee Soo-ah managed to avoid detection by the narrowest of margins.

 

Finally, they reached the deepest part of the prison.

 

“Ah!”

 

Lee Soo-ah suddenly exclaimed.

 

They had found what they were looking for: rows of iron doors stretching ahead of them.

 

They both instinctively knew that this was the place they had been searching for.

 

Words weren’t needed.

 

Lee Gwak took the right side, while Lee Soo-ah took the left.

 

They opened the windows and checked inside.

 

Thud.

 

The moment Lee Gwak opened a window, a foul stench hit him, the reek of rotting flesh.

 

Inside was a corpse.

 

Fortunately, it wasn’t Seo Jong-myeong.

 

Relieved, Lee Gwak moved to the next cell. Still no sign of him.

 

Then, he heard Lee Soo-ah’s urgent voice.

 

“Dad! Over here…!”

 

Without hesitation, Lee Gwak rushed to where she stood.

 

Lee Soo-ah was on her tiptoes, peering through a small window.  A foul stench similar to the reek of decaying flesh seeped from the iron door, but she didn’t even wrinkle her nose.

 

Lee Gwak looked inside.

 

A man sat slumped against the wall, barely clinging to life.

 

His body was covered in wounds, and flies and maggots swarmed over him, drawn by the scent of death.

 

The man struggling to survive, on his last breath, was Seo Jong-myeong.