Chapter 14 – Closed Door Training (1)

Five days went by quickly.

Before entering the training, each of the children asked the instructors for what they needed, and the instructors provided them with the supplies they had requested as long as they were within reason.

Woon Seong was also given the items he had requested from the senior instructor.

Four iron bracers and a new iron spear weighing a total of around 90 kilos.

Just thinking about the odd request Woon Seong had given the instructor, it seemed the instructor had given Woon Seong an additional set of bracers a bit heavier in case he got used to the ones he requested as well.

And the spear.

‘It’s definitely heavy.’

Woon Seong frowned as he moved his body that was heavier than before.

If he circulated his internal qi at all times of the day, he would be able to move freely like before.

But otherwise, the movement was a little bit unnatural and difficult. Not only that, but it was ridiculous to be able to circulate his internal qi at all times of the day, so it would be a good challenge to overcome.

‘When I get used to it, I can be much stronger.’

He was already amongst the top talents within the cave and his body’s talent had started to change in accordance with his body, due to the Heavenward Soul Earthen Body technique.

Even if he was already looking at the results the training would bring about after the next few years of training, he would already be amongst the top of the children right now as they finished in four years. He was that far ahead.

‘First, I need to build up my mastery with the Six Seals of Destruction and my other techniques.’

He was ready to combine the techniques or at least start on combining the Divine Spear of the Ending Night and the Six Seals of Destruction.

By the end of the closed door training at the very least, if not completely, he would hopefully be almost finished with combining the two, he thought.

Then, he might be able to even finish his body’s talent cultivation with the Heavenward Soul Earthen Body, which was almost finished with cultivating the talent of his soul.

‘And on the day I’m done with all my training, I’ll try and go for Body Modification!’

Woon Seong clenched his fist tightly.

This was a fact that Woon Seong had learned in his previous life, but every time a martial artist moved up within the Major Realms, they would undergo a certain process if they had an unparalleled cultivation technique.

And the techniques that Woon Seong were cultivating, in particular the Heavenward Soul Earthen Body, was not just a technique that changed his body a bit and developed his muscles.

It was a miraculous technique that was built to enhance everything about the practitioner cultivating the technique. However, in order to achieve such a perfect state of a body and achieve harmony properly, they had to shed the shell of their previous body through Body Modification!

The Heavenward Soul Earthen Body technique, instead of becoming more familiar to Woon Seong, became more and more mysterious as he practiced it.

It was clear that it was no ordinary high-tier technique… No, it was far beyond the scope of humans.

He only read it through the several books within the library in the Spearmaster Sect, and did not imagine a Buddhist Scripture like this, would be so mysterious in origin and extent of abilities.

‘There’s a clear multitude of changes happening inside my body even at this very moment. It’s not something that’s so simple like I had thought….’

Reflecting on the fact that this was something gained from his previous life, and the slightly bitter emotions that were aroused uncontrollably when thinking about the past, Woon Seong forced himself to stop thinking about it and move forward with his steps.

The closed door training area was in an area that was separated by two cliffs. There were small caves that were called rooms that were about 5 pyeong wide that went up the sides of these cliffs.

It was an area that was usually guarded by instructors and could not even be seen up until now.

‘It’s a much steeper slope than I thought.’

In addition, the caved rooms were not naturally shaped.

The rooms where the children had been living in were made of the basic framework of natural erosion, but this was purely an artificial cave made by human hands.

‘They dug deeper inside the natural cave to enlarge the training space.’

Woon Seong looked inside one of the caves, moving his head around.

The current area he was in was assigned to the children of the 3rd Hall, purely for the closed door training within the Cave of Latent Demons.
(T/N : There are 4 groups/ halls of children and they’re each separated from each other, so Woon Seong hasn’t met children from the other halls. Just clarifying this.)

That meant there were a few more steep cliffs and training areas like this, throughout the Cave of Latent Demons.

‘I can’t believe they’ve artificially made such a training area of such size.’

Indeed, there was a bit of exclamation that it was only a part of the several training areas within the Cave of Latent Demons.

In the meantime, the senior instructor who was walking earlier suddenly stopped walking.

It was after the long walk that was accompanied by silence, into the cave.

“From now on, you’re going to have your closed door training session here for the next 4 years.”

As soon as the senior instructor stomped his foot, the flames on the torches in the hands of the other instructors lit up.

The torches were lined up from all sides, and the interior of the cave became clearly visible.

“Wow!”

There was a burst of admiration and wonder from the children.

It was a huge space, much larger than even Woon Seong had thought. It was extremely deep and large… almost frightening if one thought of it as a jail.

The small little rooms that were wedged into the sides of the cliffs became visible.

The number of rooms was about 200, matching the rough amount of kids in the 3rd hall that were alive.

“Those are the entrances to your rooms for the closed door training. Inside, there is a space that is not insufficient for any kind of training you may need, along with drinking water and funnels for rice grains to be delivered daily. So don’t worry and go inside.”

Sure enough, it was just as Woon Seong thought.

As soon as the senior instructor finished speaking, the instructors let the children in one by one.

The senior instructor muttered behind them as he saw the children entering the dark rooms.

“When you go in, you won’t be able to come out until you’re finished with your training. I’ll block the entrances. So keep your mind firm, and we the instructors, will wish the best for all of you.”

The small murmur was transmitted surprisingly clearly to the ears of the Woon Seong and other children, and soon the door to the entrance was closed with a heavy echo.

Gggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg-

Inside the space obstructed by the solid stone gate that had closed behind him.

It was incredibly dark, and was hard to see, even for Woon Seong.

* * *

It was easy to become lonely.

It was damp, and moist.

That combined with the darkness.

Dark areas, where one could not see past one’s fingers and were combined with silence in a confined space, were enough to make the most courageous of humans break their wills.

It was highly likely that even some of the children might go crazy within this time away from everybody else. 

That was why this trial was part of the titled trials of ‘life and death’.

Could one survive in such conditions of utter silence, unfavorable living conditions, and complete darkness? That was their challenge.

Inside his room, Woon Seong slowly closed its eyes.

He started to circulate his internal qi, and focus it around his eyes. By doing this, he would be able to see just fine.

But, he knew he would not be able to do that all day long.

If he did, he would be exhausted without any chance to properly train his body.

‘I’m getting used to the darkness.’

It was in the dark with nothing in sight anyway, but the senses of Woon Seong picked up on a bowl of rice grains in the corner and a bamboo shoot for water.

The senses of Woon Seong stretched out and expanded within the darkness, as he got a grasp of his surroundings.

He could hear the wind blowing in and out of a tiny crack between the rocks.

He then slowly opened his eyes.

The extended sensations and comprehension of his surroundings passed to his brain, as he started to memorize the dimensions of his room, to minimize his effort needed to circulate his internal qi in his eyes.

On top of that, he wasn’t sure, but he was starting to make out his surroundings naturally with his eyes.

Intimidation Qi (暗順應).

It wasn’t clear, but his intimidation qi, helped him gather the grasp on his surroundings easier.
(T/N : Another difference from the webtoon, as the translators in the webtoon thought he was using his heavenward soul, earthbound technique to sense his surroundings, but the hanja here says otherwise.)

Woon Seong opened his eyes and looked at the water flowing through the bamboo chute.

Next to it was a small wooden handle, which was the size of an arm.

It is a structure that could not be opened from inside the room, the wooden handle for one to crank the machinery behind the wall, to gather water to drink.

‘How interesting, they used machinery to draw the water in.’

There was a wooden gate on the other side of the cave that Woon Seong suddenly picked up with his senses.

It was locked from the outside, and he was unsure of what it’s purpose was for. But, like all things in the Cave of Latent Demons, they would be revealed at a later date.

‘I shouldn’t try to mess around with that.’

Woon Seong took a sip of water and put it in his mouth.

He had to spend four years here. Woon Seong clenched his fist tightly and grabbed the spear.

‘I can do it.’

Woon Seong immediately began his training.

The training regimen for Woon Seong was simple. At night, he spent less time sleeping and cultivated his Heavenward Soul Earthen Body technique, and at dawn, he focused on improving his internal qi reserves with the Tempered True Blossom cultivation technique.

During the day, he used the time to learn the martial arts that he had deemed useful from his past life and then afterwards at noon, practiced the Six Seals of Destruction and Divine Spear of the Ending Night.

It was a great boon for him to be able to reduce his sleep while being able to practice and rest at the same time with the Heavenward Soul Earthen Body technique.

Day by day, progress started to accumulate…

And four years passed.

* * *

Sisst-

The dark space was filled with an even darker and compressed energy.

The dark energy was fluctuating as if it were smooth as water, winding around the entire room like a snake.

Gsh- Gsh- Gsh-

In the meantime, Woon-Seong was breathing slowly. Breathing in and out very slowly…….

The dark energy contracted and expanded in accordance to match the breath of Woon Seong.

The intimidation qi, had been assimilated thoroughly into Woon Seong’s very body and breathing habits. His proficiency with the technique was incomparable to before.

How long had it been?

For the first time, the breathing of the seated Woon Seong, which was breathing and exhaling in a rhythmic flow regularly, changed.

Sigh, Sigh-

Breathing in slowly, very slowly and with depth.

He was changing the breathing technique to the pattern required for a different martial art.

His breath went deep into his lungs. And the internal qi responded to him.

The wide-spread internal qi gathered around Woon Seong.

The gathering qi gathered atop the head of Woon Seong and started to knead itself into a sphere.

A small sphere rose above Woon Seong’s head.

And finally!

When Woon Seong stopped breathing, the qi scattered with a sizzling sound.

Soon after that, Woon Seong opened his eyes.

Paat-

At the moment, a bright gold light flashed in the eyes of Woon Seong. His eyes had turned fierce. The figure was like the eyes of a cold hearted assassin in front of his target.

However, after a while, the eyes of Woon Seong soon returned to their original form, and the gold sheen in his irises, dissipated.

Woon Seong slowly rose from his seat, circulating the deep reserves of internal qi that had expanded leaps and bounds, within his dantian.

“Is it today?”

As the cultivation of the Heavenward Soul Earthen Body had grown, Woon Seong had been able to naturally expand his senses without the use of internal qi.

It felt strange as he looked back on the time he had spent in this room the past 4 years.

Yet everything was so clear when he closed his eyes.

Through his senses, he saw the numerous markings he had made, scratching the wall the number of days that had passed.

As if it were corresponding to Woon Seong’s finalizing thoughts, the mysterious wooden gate that had not moved since he had entered the cave, moved subtly.

‘Is this the end of the life and death trials, or will there be more?’

Perhaps there was more since it hadn’t quite been a full 10 years.

Woon Seong gripped the spear in his hand tightly.

The four iron bracers and iron spear in his hands, could be felt throughout his body with much ease.

Despite the weight becoming more than adding another body in terms of weight onto his body, Woon Seong’s movements were completely smooth.

The senses of Woon Seong that had expanded past the darkness of the cave and towards the wooden gate.

‘It’s not bad. I guess it’s time to go’

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Il-Hwang, 일황]

[Translator – betterdays]

[Proofreader – Mayank]