Chapter 62: Chapter 56: What is Hell?
Shout out to @kizikuza for being one of the first 10 privilege readers for this month.
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Woo sighed in relief as Bum backed away. She could feel that Zeke was now somehow different. She had thought that he was starting to warm up to them but this situation gave her a reality check. Zeke suddenly jumped and slapped Bum. Hard.
"I’ll let it slide with this slap this time. But if you ever question me so uselessly again, I will kill you. Am I clear?" asked Zeke in a threatening tone.
Bum replied, "Yes, Ryeong."
Zeke replied, "Good. Woong will wake up shortly. I didn’t do this just to vent my anger. You three have already broken through and become Third rate Warriors. And you still can’t take a single punch from me? I still haven’t broken through.
You should be ashamed of your own weakness. Looks like I’ll have to change our plans. You guys have relaxed too much and become too dependent on each other. After I break through, you three will leave and start looking for your fated opportunities on this mountain. Alone.
Two years later, we will meet again when the instructors return for us. If you are still alive, that is.
In these two years, you will train as if your life is on the line. Because it will be. If I’m not satisfied with your progress, I will kill you."
Bum and Woo thought at the same time, ’It isn’t that we are weak. You are just too strong.’
But they didn’t show it and nodded. Maybe it would really help them. After all, no matter how cruel Zeke was, his advice had never been detrimental. Woong woke up in 15 minutes. He looked around, confused, before he remembered what had happened.
He got up and went to Zeke. He said, "Ryeong, how did you get so strong?"
Zeke looked at him and saw there was no anger in his eyes. He was just curious. He replied, "I trained. And I encountered something pretty interesting. But don’t worry. You’ll get your chance."
Woong was confused. Woo took him to the side and told him everything that had happened. Woong was shocked and said, "Is Bum out of his mind? I mean I’m thankful that he was standing up for me but he could have died. And if Ryeong wanted to severely injure or even kill me, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything. He was a monster before, but now..."
He looked at Zeke and said, "...I’m not sure what he is."
They both went to Bum. Zeke, on the other hand, decided that it was a good time to break through. He sat cross legged in the house and started circulating the technique. Just like the model, the natural energy that had converted into Hell Qi just kept on circulating inside him. He focused on the Hell Qi inside him. It felt...incomplete.
Like it wasn’t what it could be. But why? In the Nine Lotus Hells Technique, the Hell Qi was complete. What could be the reason for this change? The only reason he could think of was that because his technique had more runes and he had fully unblocked his meridians, his internal qi was extremely pure. That somehow increased the quality of the Hell Qi. But it was missing something.
What was Hell Qi? It was the natural energy of the Land of the Dead or Hell. As he started thinking about it, he had a thought. Was Hell simply a manifestation of death and darkness? Was that all there was to it? No, it was not. So how could this internal qi be the true Hell Qi? There must be something else.
He opened the Nine Lotus Hells Technique that he had and examined the many notes inside it. He remembered that the old man had said that everyone’s Hell Qi was different. Why? And how? He searched the book very thoroughly. And then he found it. On the bottom of the very last page, in tiny letters. ’Hell Qi is influenced by its user’s emotions and in turn affects them as well.’
He had found his answer. He didn’t know how long it would take for his emotions to affect his incomplete Hell Qi. So he decided to take a more direct approach. But first, he had to think, what did the word ’Hell’ represent to him?
He was someone who had already died twice and would continue to die nine more times, before he could face true death. He had thought about this before. To him it was where death and darkness reigned instead of life and light. It was a place where blood and fire raged, where souls received absolute judgment for their sins. It was a prison for the damned.
So that’s what he had to do. Instead of emotion, he would integrate his Intent into his Hell Qi. The incomplete Hell Qi started circulating inside him. He started thinking about death, darkness, blood, fire, soul, sin, and absolute judgment. He had died, faced darkness, participated in a war, and his soul was dripping in sin.
[Yeah, I’m prideful, greedy, and can be considered somewhat wrathful. So what?]
The only intent he had trouble with was absolute judgment, the ’absolute’ to be precise. If you really think about it, is anything absolute? The only answer that came to his mind was strength. Only strength was absolute. If one was strong enough, they would become the new absolute. When this thought settled in his mind, these seven Intents started merging into his mind and flowed into his Hell Qi. His Hell Qi, which was pitch black, started changing as different colors were added to it.
His new Hell Qi completed 108 circulations before his body became saturated. It started going towards his Lower Energy Core. He heard a cracking noise. His Hell Qi had successfully penetrated his Lower Energy Core. It started rushing inside and filled about a third of it.
His Hell Qi had turned into a blood red color. In his Energy Core, the Hell Qi had formed a pond of sorts. In the center of this pond, a small vortex appeared. In this vortex, a black and gold lotus with twelve petals condensed. Slowly the vortex disappeared.
Outside, Zeke’s lotus tattoo started glowing and a phantom of an unbloomed lotus appeared behind him. Twelve petals opened while the rest remained closed. Then, the phantom disappeared. Zeke opened his eyes.
He could tell that everything about him had experienced tremendous growth. He had never expected that just breaking through and becoming a Third Rate Warrior would increase his strength so much. He walked outside and noticed that it was already nighttime. The trio were sleeping outside, most probably because they wanted to avoid disturbing him.
The next morning, when everyone had woken up, Zeke made an announcement.
"I broke through last night."
The trio first looked surprised and then congratulated him. But he wasn’t done yet. He continued, "As I told you yesterday, you will soon leave to look for opportunities of your own. I myself hadn’t expected that I would break through so soon, so we’ll spar for a week."
And that is what they did. They sparred for the whole week.
By the end of the week, the trio was dead tired. They hadn’t pushed themselves so much, even in that hell hole. Zeke was like head instructor 2.0. He insulted them, threatened them, and brutally trained them. If the head instructor had seen this, he would have been proud.
He let them rest for a day and it was finally time for them to leave. He looked at them and said, "Stay vigilant. Don’t die. And don’t forget to worship the Asuran Neo-Nephilim Primogenitor’s Totem every night before sleeping. I’ve already taught you how to draw it. If you can, occasionally sacrifice some of your hunts. But remember, the sacrifices aren’t as important as your faith. Don’t lose faith in him or the gift that he has given you. It will help you a lot."
He didn’t say how the gift would help them, but Woong caught him glancing at Pooki. He didn’t say anything but he was kind of starting to understand what he meant.
Zeke continued, "Now go. Hopefully, I’ll see you in two years. If we do meet before that, we’ll battle. And if I’m not satisfied..."
The trio completed his sentence, "You’ll kill us."
He said, "It’s good that you understand."
The trio looked at each other and then looked at Zeke. Then they bowed towards him and said, "Thank you Ryeong. For everything."
With that, they all left in different directions. Seeing them leave, Zeke felt an emotion rising inside him. He decided that he would also rest today. After that, he too would leave. He laid down on the ground, and the memories of the past two years flashed in his mind. He mumbled, "It seems that I’m actually gonna miss the little fuckers."
The next day, he packed up his stuff and left the bamboo forest.
