Chapter 340. You Escaped from the Frozen Hell?

Cold. Cold. Cold. Cold. So cold. From the moment the sensation of cold disappeared, pure pain continued. A stinging pain overlapped with a numbing pain. Numbness is emotionally frightening. But surely I wasn’t the only one suffering. From the time even this complex agony began to feel faint, I started suffocating. If I had frozen with a reed in my mouth, I could at least have breathed properly, but I am not such a meticulous man. I could endure the cold, the pain, and even the suffocation, but when it felt as though my consciousness was fading too, I laughed inwardly. Hehehe, hehehe, hehehe, hehehehehe, hehehe. I felt I had to keep laughing to hold on to consciousness, so I mocked Baegya and Palnoya, who were in the same situation as me. My pain was merely pain, but the cold inflicted upon the specters was the vengeance of the dead. Serves you right. Serves you right. Since I was still alive, it seemed the specters would be alive too, so I had no intention of releasing the Snow Robe (雪衣). When I thought about releasing the Snow Robe, it occurred to me that I had never considered a way to escape this isolation. But I had always been isolated anyway, so it was fine. There were a hundred and twenty-two ways to free myself from a petty ice art like this. Among them, two were the Flame Realm and the Violet Haze Divine Art. But it seemed the Violet Haze Divine Art did not exist within the realm of reason. Left with no choice, when I thought of the Flame Realm, warmth suddenly seeped from the hands I was holding. It seemed the other side was struggling with internal energy as well. Wow, this was rather impressive. So these specters had been human bastards after all?

“……”

These specters seemed to think I was the sort of person who would cling to another’s warmth in order to live, but in truth, I am not such a warm person. We could just freeze to death together; what disgraceful conduct was this? You plan to melt my ultimate technique? And what will you do after melting it? Continue a life of killing people who don’t even know martial arts while offering your loyalty to the Demon Cult Leader? I couldn’t allow that.

I drew up the ice water pooled in Cheonok with a bucket, poured it over myself first, and then continued sending cold qi into the hand of the old man I was holding. Just what kind of bastard was I? I was gradually getting used to the Frozen Hell too. From the moment the specters had followed me with such ease, as if they could kill me at any time, this journey had been bound for hell. Hehehehehe. It was deeply regrettable that I couldn’t laugh out loud. I felt something like tears leaving my eyes and freezing before they could fall.

Ah…….

I remembered the first time I fell into water. Some idiot had said that if you fell into water, a water ghost waiting below would grab you, but even then, I had opened my eyes wide and looked around under the water. Instead of a water ghost, a more beautiful scenery than I expected had unfolded. I remembered following the shafts of light upward and escaping from the deep water. Now, though no light could be seen and the depth was fairly great, there had been no water ghost then, and there was none now. Something blunt slammed into my body.

Which bastard hit me?

Had they been looking at me, since I was staying still, as if I were some frozen cripple? Only then did I realize that specters other than the ones I was holding were around me, and that the Four Great Villains must have charged in and begun fighting. Poor Sword Demon, stubborn Ghost Demon, damned Lecherous Demon…….

Should I get out of hell and help them?

In truth, though there was a difference in internal strength, few people could fight as well as I could. Amusingly enough, because of Ilwol Gwangcheon, I had rarely fought the way I had as the Mad Demon. In any case, Sword Demon and Lecherous Demon were men who had risen as far as Left Envoy of Light, and Ghost Demon was also a master other villains could not take lightly. It meant they were men who would continue to grow if one watched over them. Had we recovered the strength of our prime? I still didn’t know.

Frozen solid, I shook as though meeting an earthquake. If asked whether killing or saving came first, saving came first for now. While in a state of selflessness, I switched to the breathing circulation of the Golden Turtle Wandering Art and drew up the Flame Realm. I imagined a path of flame over my frozen acupoints. After that, I half lost consciousness. The wild dance I had danced in the rain came to mind, and as I walked along the path of flame and moved my body, I swung a sword wreathed in fire.

I melted my dantian, advanced into my five viscera and six bowels, and then set my heart ablaze. Next, I stabbed through my chest, pierced my throat, and melted the expressionless emotions covering my face with flame.

Let’s live with a bit of laughter.

I melted my tongue, and when I struck my stiffened teeth with a hammer, flames rose. I thrust a wooden sword into my blocked nose, and pain surged in. Had the nose always been such a painful place? Breathing was more urgent than the horrific pain, so I swung the sword wildly. It felt as though I were stabbing chopsticks again into nostrils already streaming with blood. After checking the quality of the air with shallow breaths and sensing that there was no poison, I immediately filled both eyes with flame. It felt as though my eyelids would tear, so I did not force them open. I felt as if I had known how to fill both eyes with flame, but what was it?

Rage…….

I melted the frozen tears with rage. After fighting one preliminary skirmish, I sent a signal to my dantian, and the me who had been waiting there drew out the Holy Fire (聖火). Praying that this would be the hottest flame within me, I raised the Holy Fire high, gauged the weight and lightness of my body, and unfolded the Cloud-Stepping Steps.

Holding the flame in my hand, I broke through Jigu, Qihai, Xiawan, Zhongwan, Juque, Zhongting, Xuanji, Tiantu, and Lianquan like a messenger, then set the Holy Fire down at the Baihui point. Soon, the crown of my head grew hot, and I felt scalding steam surge upward. No! I wasn’t going to go bald at this rate, was I? Please…… With my personality, baldness has no answer. The crown of my head was growing hotter, but I heard no sound at all.

At that moment, my eyes opened on their own.

“……!”

A ringing filled my ears, and amid bizarre pain, the rest of my five senses awakened. Touch, smell, hearing, and taste writhed within their respective pains and began to regain their functions. So this must be why life is pain. Merely recovering the functions originally given to me was painful enough.

‘Huh?’

Baegya’s body in front of me stirred first, and Palnoya’s body also moved faintly.

‘They’re alive. These are no ordinary old men.’

It seemed these bastards were also pouring out internal energy and trying to melt their entire bodies. Had their cultivation been deeper than mine? Or had the two of them secretly taken some of the living internal energy that was supposed to be given to the cult leader? Since the specters could also be melted by my Flame Realm, I first released the old men’s hands.

Suddenly, with a chiiiik sound, steam rose in wisps from the crown of Baegya’s head, and not long after, the same phenomenon occurred from Palnoya’s crown. Were the hottest places in a martial artist’s body the palm centers and the Baihui point? They were no ordinary old devils.

The absurd fact that I would die if my actions were slower than these old men pressed down on my heart. I had entered the Frozen Hell first…….

Then, wreathed in flames, I attempted my escape and waited at the entrance. While melting my body, I slowly reached for the wooden sword, grasped it, and melted the inside of the clinging scabbard with the Flame Realm as well.

White smoke also surged from Baegya and Palnoya, as if the crowns of their heads had been pierced. I opened my stiff mouth and laughed first.

“Heh heh.”

Maintaining my sword-drawing stance, I heated the blade until it burned. In that instant, Baegya and Palnoya opened their eyes at the same time and stared at me.

As our gazes met, ten thousand emotions passed between us.

You escaped from the Frozen Hell with great difficulty?

Then now, I shall escort you to the Flame Realm Hell. With all my might, I glared at the heated wooden sword, the melting ice art, and the eyes of the specters, and the moment Baegya and Palnoya burst the ice art from their entire bodies…….

I drew the wooden sword.

Slice!

The blade wrapped in flames simultaneously sent flying the heads of Baegya and Palnoya, who had only just escaped from hell. Two heads soared into the air and then fell to the ground. I rose unsteadily, like a child just learning to walk, and looked around.

“……”

Frozen corpses filled the surroundings. The moment I thought something was moving in a pale blur, I swung my wooden sword at the man in black who appeared before my eyes. Just as I thought his palm force was extremely fierce, a thunderous roar struck my ears.

Kuwaaaaaaaaaaang!

When I came to my senses, I was still flying through the air. With the world upside down, I saw the man in black approaching me. Had today’s protagonist finally appeared? Just where had he been grasping the end of this night? Thinking about it, since I had been frozen, he would not have been able to absorb me. Now was the proper time for his entrance. I swung my sword at the man in black, who had somehow already approached, and I realized my movement was slightly slower than usual. To an expert, my movements would appear even more sluggish. The man in black knocked aside the wooden sword and thrust out his right palm.

When I struck back with my left palm, our palms stuck together.

The man in black’s other hand pushed toward my neck. Without regret, I let go of my sword and grabbed the wrist of the man in black whose hand had come near my throat. In that instant, as I erupted my internal energy explosively, the ground beneath our feet sank in and a wave of qi spread outward.

The man in black’s hand advanced little by little, struggling to seize my neck.

“……”

Beyond the black-clad man, a newly appeared group of red-clad enemies was clashing with the Four Great Evils beneath the moonlight. Even in the midst of this, I wanted to tear off the black-clad man’s mask and check his face. In that instant, a kick came in from below and I lost my balance, but I seized the black-clad man with my left palm and right hand. In the blink of an eye, the sky tilted, and the moment we struck the ground, we went rolling.

A laugh escaped me before I knew it.

“You poor bastard.”

Just then, a headbutt came flying at me, and I countered in kind. If I took a headbutt while staying still, my nose or teeth could be smashed, so I thrust forward the same way and slammed my forehead against his.

Thud!

Thinking of the Fist King’s body techniques, I held on to both of the black-clad man’s arms and shifted this way and that before unleashing Jewunjong. While we were both lifted into the air, I yanked on his right arm, changed direction, and crushed the black-clad man beneath me against the ground. As I made as if to twist his wrist, I smashed my forehead into the black-clad man’s face.

Thud!

In that instant, I converted all the internal energy in my right hand into Baekjeon Sipdan-gong. The black-clad man’s pitch-black clothes began to burn away with a crackling sound, revealing bare skin. As his sleeve vanished, hideous fire-scorched skin and demonic markings were exposed. Then the area around his shoulder was obliterated by lightning qi, and part of the mask covering his face burned away, but in the end, his face still could not be seen.

From my left palm, I strangely felt my internal energy being sucked away, but when I used the Cheonok Heupseong Great Art to block it, I was not put in any great danger. Still, his internal energy was in no way inferior to mine, while in external arts, I seemed to be slightly stronger. I was about to crush his throat and kill him when someone in red landed nearby. The moment I judged him to be an enemy, I lifted the black-clad man and used him to block an attack I could not even identify.

Boooom!

Pushed back by the palm force, I staggered a few steps and grasped the situation.

“…….”

As the black-clad man who had been struck hard in the back rose, a man in a red changshan supported him. The moment I saw his expression, his air, and the fine threads embroidered into his changshan, one man came to mind.

“Guangming Youshi (光明右使)?”

The man presumed to be Guangming Youshi ignored my words and spoke to the black-clad man.

“We withdraw.”

The black-clad man opened his mouth for the first time.

“How can we withdraw?”

Guangming Youshi looked at me and said,

“There are more enemies. Even joining up here was not easy. Hurry.”

At that moment, the sound of fluttering robes came from the air, and the White-Clad Scholar appeared nearby, looking at Guangming Youshi.

“Blood Demon, where do you think you’re running off to? We need to finish our match.”

“Let us continue it another time.”

Guangming Youshi grabbed the black-clad man by the back of the neck and shot into the air, then swung his hand once toward the White-Clad Scholar. The White-Clad Scholar flinched in surprise and retreated several steps, but nothing at all actually came flying through the air.

I met the eyes of the White-Clad Scholar, who had retreated after being fooled by a bluff.

“You fell for that?”

“…….”

The White-Clad Scholar glared at me, then turned his head and stared at the frozen area.

“Was this your doing?”

I looked around as well, and the moment I spotted the Four Great Evils still fighting, I used qinggong to join them. On the way, I picked up the wooden sword that had fallen to the ground, then walked a few more steps before stopping and looking at my left hand. My palm was charred black, but fortunately, it did not seem to be poison arts. In any case, my body did not seem to be in normal condition, so I looked at the White-Clad Scholar.

“I nearly died because of Wolyeong Mujeong-gong.”

The White-Clad Scholar approached with his hands clasped behind his back, then gestured with his chin toward where the Four Great Evils were.

“Join up first.”

“Confirmed.”