I slowly made my way along the passage of the stone grotto.
Inside, the air circulated well, and light filtering in here and there from openings at the top of the grotto kept the interior from being dark. Judging by its elaborate design and craftsmanship, it was clear this place had been made by a truly skilled artisan.
As I walked slowly through the grotto, the moment I passed a certain point, I felt the surroundings ripple ever so slightly.
Sssssss.
In that instant, I knew. A top-tier formation—one only an expert with keen senses could notice—had activated.
Thinking about it, it was only natural. Why had those who died here been unable to escape? If a trial was too difficult, they could simply give up and leave. They had died because they could not get out of this formation. When entering, one could walk in comfortably, but if one failed to break through the trial, it transformed into a hellish formation from which one could never leave.
How long had I walked like that?
A fairly large plaza appeared.
At the entrance to the plaza stood a stone stele explaining the first trial.
一, Cut down all enemies without using sword qi or sword aura.
二, If you fail within the time limit, another chance will be given ten days later.
三, Those who are prepared, stand in the red circle.
“Ten days later? What am I supposed to eat until then?”
Looking around, I found a jar by the wall filled with Bigu Pills (辟穀丹).
“If I had to eat those tasteless things for ten days, I’d go mad.”
Without hesitation, I stood in the center of the red circle drawn in the middle of the plaza.
A moment later, with a clank, dozens of human-shaped wooden dolls rose from the floor on all sides. The parts to be cut were painted red. On some dolls, it was the neck; on others, the arm; on still others, the leg.
My body reacted reflexively.
The instant they rose, I launched myself forward, instinctively deciding which technique to use and what to cut first.
Swish. Swish. Swish.
The wooden dolls were sliced apart.
The dolls were not fixed in one place. The panels on the floor began moving, shifting their positions.
Amid that chaos, several of the dolls began descending back down.
“No!”
I knew. If I missed those dolls going down, they would never come back up again, and the challenge would fail at that moment.
So I cut down the descending dolls first.
Sure enough, the other dolls moved quickly, obstructing my path as I tried to cut them.
I leaped lightly over them and swung my sword.
Slice!
The doll I had nearly missed was cut apart.
The dolls’ movements grew faster and faster. At first, I thought this was a trial testing footwork, but it was not. This trial tested judgment.
What should be cut first?
Quick and accurate judgment came first; footwork came after.
The trial was complicated and difficult, but it was not refined enough to surpass my instincts and skill.
In that way, I cut down all the dolls and safely passed the first trial.
One thing was certain. If I had been at my level before regression, I never would have passed this first trial. Even if I had jumped, rolled, flown about, and made every desperate effort, I would have failed.
I understood why the test resumed only after ten days.
Many challengers must have failed this first challenge, and they would only have been able to succeed after pondering and practicing for at least ten days.
And even then, only those who remembered exactly how the dolls moved and which dolls descended into the floor and when would have been able to devise a countermeasure. A slow-witted challenger would have had to repeat the challenge again and again.
Seeing the first trial, I could understand why the average time to clear Socheondong was three years.
Rumble.
The moment I passed the first trial, the stone door leading to the second trial opened.
I slowly headed toward the second trial. Before leaving the first trial, however, I noticed writing carved into the wall. On the wall near the exit were words left behind by the predecessors who had come before me.
—I succeeded after nine tries. Wahahahaha.
—I took sixteen.
—This is madness!
—I succeeded after a full thirty-seven attempts. Tears blur my eyes after such long suffering.
—Will I die here? I simply cannot solve it. I resent my father.
—Damn it! I tried to go back, but there was no way back.
—Success after only six tries. I dare say I am the best.
At the very bottom, I saw familiar handwriting.
—Morons.
It was Father, who had passed this trial before me.
“Hahaha.”
I couldn’t hold back my laughter. It seemed Father had passed on his first attempt.
Still, no matter what, strictly speaking, these were his ancestors, yet he had boldly started by cursing them out.
“Father, I passed on my first try too! Hahaha!”
I continued on and arrived at the space where the second trial awaited.
As expected, a stone stele stood in the second plaza as well.
一, Using the swords hanging on the wall, split the stone in two within one shichen. Sword qi or sword aura may be used.
二, If you fail within the time limit, another chance will be given twenty days later.
三, Those who are prepared, stand in the red circle.
This time, the retry was twenty days later.
By simple calculation, that meant it was twice as difficult as the first trial.
“Endure twenty days on Bigu Pills? I’d rather die.”
Steeling myself to succeed, I stood in the red circle at the center of the plaza.
Clank.
A stone table rose from the floor. On top of it rested an iron sphere about the size of an adult’s head.
“So I’m supposed to cut this iron sphere.”
The given time was one shichen.
That was far too long to cut a single iron sphere. Thinking there must surely be a reason, I slowly examined it.
Its surface was smooth, and it was not ordinary iron but an artificially made stone.
Naturally, it must be a material stronger than cast iron. When I lifted it, it was so heavy that I could not do so without using internal energy.
Hundreds of swords hung on the wall for use in the test. There were several types as well. Long swords, short daggers, heavy swords (重劍), and light swords. There were even flexible swords (軟劍) worn at the waist. Truly, every kind of sword was there.
It meant this would not be an easy challenge, and I should choose carefully and attempt it multiple times.
I walked slowly over and took down one of the swords hanging on the wall. It was a well-made ordinary iron sword.
I stood before the sphere, calmed my mind, and brought the sword down with force.
Clang! With a clear ring, the sword snapped and flew away. The sphere, on the other hand, did not have so much as a scratch. It truly was an incredibly hard metal.
I examined the sphere again. To the eye, it was an ordinary iron ball with nothing special about it.
I brought another sword and, this time, swung vertically.
Again, only the sword broke; the sphere remained intact.
“As expected, it won’t work normally.”
I brought a new sword and infused it with internal power.
Wooooong.
Immediately, blue light shimmered from the sword. I had manifested sword aura.
Before regression, at this age, I could use sword qi, but I could not manifest sword aura. It was only in my thirties that I had grasped the principles of sword aura.
“My first sword aura since regressing.”
Every martial artist’s sword aura had a different color, and even if they cultivated the same mental art, the hue differed slightly from person to person. I had always found that fascinating.
I liked the color my sword aura gave off. This pleasant blue—at times like the sea, and at other times like the sky.
Just as I was about to slowly cut the sphere with sword aura—
A sudden sense of wrongness washed over me, and I quickly withdrew my internal power. The sword aura lingering on the blade vanished.
“This is too easy, isn’t it?”
At first glance, I had thought this was a test to see whether challengers could use sword aura, since the iron sword could not cut it. Sword qi seemed unlikely to be enough. In other words, it was a test one could not escape until one awakened sword aura.
But any young rising talent capable of using sword aura would simply slice through it and pass.
Was the trial really this simple?
Conversely, for someone unable to manifest sword aura, reaching the realm where they could do so was far too difficult.
Too easy on one side, too difficult on the other. Something was out of balance.
So, just in case, I went to look at the writing the seniors had left on the wall.
—With sword aura, I split it in one move.
—I tried eighty-nine times to cut it without using sword aura, failed every time, and ultimately cut it with sword aura.
—I cut it without using sword aura.
—How on earth? I cannot believe it.
—Damn it! My sword qi won’t cut it. I can’t emit sword aura, so what am I to do?
—Two hundred days since I began researching sword aura. The mere smell of Bigu Pills makes me want to vomit.
—That claim above about cutting it without sword aura is a lie.
—Adding one vote to the lie.
What I wanted to see was the phrase Father had left.
As expected, Father’s writing had been left at the very end.
—What bullshit.
Hahaha. To call your ancestors’ words bullshit—someone like this must have suffered greatly pretending to be solemn.
But this time, he had added a line beside it.
—If you get heated, you lose.
“If you get heated, you lose? Why did he add something like this? If it were Father, he would have just cursed once like in the first trial and left it at that.”
Get heated? Get heated? Could it be?
I quickly went back to the first stone tablet.
一, Split the stone in two within one shichen. Sword qi or sword aura may be used.
The words that entered my eyes.
Sword qi or sword aura may be used?
It did not say “use them,” but “may be used.” In other words, wasn’t it saying to cut normally, and if that truly didn’t work, then use them?
Come to think of it, the given time was also too long. One shichen was more than enough time to cut hundreds of stones like that. Lastly, the number of swords hanging on the wall was excessive as well.
“Ah! This trial must be cleared without using sword qi or sword aura.”
Father’s words about losing if I got heated were like a warning not to use sword aura. After all, when sword aura manifested, hot heat came from the sword.
There was a fact that supported that conjecture.
The retry period being twenty days meant this was more difficult than the first trial, did it not?
This had to be cut normally.
“Thank you, Father.”
In any case, if I had to avoid using sword aura, I had no time to stand around like this.
I went back in front of the sphere.
Once I thought that I absolutely had to cut it without using sword aura, the sphere looked different.
“How on earth should I cut it to split this? Vertically? Horizontally? Crosswise? Diagonally? Or with a quick sword (快劍)? With a heavy sword?”
I tried all sorts of methods with the prepared swords. But only the poor swords broke; the sphere did not cut.
After failing more than thirty times, I leaned against the wall and sat down, half giving up.
“There must be a way.”
Heartless time continued to flow, and now less than a quarter-hour remained.
“Do I have to try again in twenty days?”
I was half in despair.
“Should I just cut it with sword aura and pass?”
But Father had gone so far as to leave writing behind. I could not choose the easy method.
“This is hard. So hard.”
As I sat there in resignation, I unconsciously emitted qi. It was the qi emission practice I had learned from Father in the mountains.
A strand of energy extending from my body touched the sphere.
“If only you were a wild boar. Then I could cut you down in one stroke.”
My energy wrapped around the sphere, slowly feeling its surface.
In that instant, my eyes flew open.
“Huh?”
There was a fine line on the surface of the sphere. It was a line I had not sensed when looking with my eyes or touching it with my hand.
I focused my entire mind on sensing it. My energy began to envelop it like a bird brooding over an egg, and I tried to become one with the sphere.
The line continued all the way around the sphere before meeting again at its starting point.
I rose from my seat and slowly approached it. My energy still connected me and the sphere.
With my eyes closed, feeling the sphere only through my energy, I brought my sword down precisely toward that line.
Swish.
I did not strike hard. I focused on bringing the sword down on the line in the sphere with not a hair’s breadth of error.
The next moment, something astonishing happened.
Crack.
The sphere split in half. That line had been a kind of vital point that could divide the sphere precisely in two.
And something even more astonishing was waiting for me.
Roll.
From the hollow inside of the split sphere, a single pill rolled out.