Chapter 16 – Ranking Dispute (1)

When Woon Seong stepped out from the exit of the passageway, a bright and dazzling light poured into his vision.

Woon Seong frowned slightly at the sudden flash of light that invaded the corners of his cornea.

He slowly opened his squinted eyes over time and adjusted to the lighting of the room he had entered.

What he saw was that the senior instructor from his Third Hall with some individuals standing side by side of equal strength.

However, the number of senior instructors was four times higher than usual.

‘Not only has my senior instructor arrived, but I think the other instructors are the senior instructors from the first, second and fourth halls.’

Woon Seong moved his gaze slowly.

There was only one child who left the Trial of Life and Death closed door training before him.

The face attached to the boy who had completed the trial earlier than him was a new face he had not seen in the Third Hall he was a part of.

If he was a member of the same Hall as Woon Seong, he would have seen his face even if he was just a passerby, but that wasn’t the case.

It’s not that he didn’t pay attention to his surroundings or the other children. Sure, Woon Seong was rather isolative, but he just didn’t see the boy before.

‘I see. This is what must have happened.’

Woon Seong, who understood what was going on, knew why the other senior instructors were gathered.

The number of children who would pass through this trial of life and death, would probably number to only about 100 children if they were being generous with the numbers.

Since the trial itself was meant to cull the ones that would not be of use to the cult, it was only natural the numbers of the survivors would be low.

Hence, why there was no need to separate the children by different numbered halls anymore.

‘The entire population making up the Cave of Latent Demons has gathered here.’

As Woon Seong looked around, one of the instructors stepped forward and looked at him.

“Hmm…. What number is that one?”

He was Sang In-Hyo, the general manager of the Cave of Latent Demons.

With the appearance of Sang-hyo, Woon Seong turned his head and looked at him. Then he reflexively gulped and swallowed his saliva as he stared at Sang In-Hyo.

‘He… He’s a Peak Realm Martial Artist’

Woon Seong’s was barely above him in terms of strength when comparing his previous life’s strength to the current Sang In-Hyo. The amount of strength Woon Seong currently had was maybe enough to fend off his attacks at best.

However, considering the circumstances, it was not worth finding out whether he could or not.

In any case, Sang In-Hyo was a Peak Realm martial artist who was on the verge of being a Transcendent Realm martial artist.

Of course, there would be no need to worry about his strength with his previous life’s body. Woon Seong might be wary of Sang In-Hyo at most back then.

According to the Realms of strength sorted out by the whole of Murim, Sang In-Hyo was at the threshold between Peak Realm and Transcendence, but Woon Seong was a full-fledged Transcendent back then.

Right now, however, Woon Seong felt he could exert the physical strength of a Peak Realm martial artist if he took off all his bracers.

But there was no need to do that right now.

Did he notice that Woon Seong was measuring his strength? Sang In-Hyo grinned at Woon Seong.

His grin was devilish and would make anybody and their mother, faint on the spot.

“He is No. 900.”

It was the senior instructor of the third hall that Woon Seong was a part of, that replied to Sang In-Hyo’s question.

Sang In-Hyo nodded at the words and slowly scratched his chin.

“Oh, how interesting. This is the one, is he? The one that has piqued the interest of the other senior instructors and has been achieving great things, no?”

Woon Seong felt a curious gaze toward him.

As Woon Seong had just done earlier, Sang In-Hyo was now measuring the strength of Woon Seong.

Then he turned his head and compared the strength of Woon Seong to the child who had finished first.

Woon Seong was the second to arrive. However, the first child had his clothes in rags, whereas Woon Seong had not even a scratch on him.

Blood was even trickling out from wounds here and there.

Sang In-Hyo, who confirmed the strength of Woon Seong, smiled and murmured once more.

“He must be a blessing for the Cult.”

It was then that another entrance to the cave they were in, began to vibrate and open.

The next person to walk out was Ah-Young, who also knew Woon Seong from the Third Hall.

She grew up to be an unrecognizable beauty, and her hair was a little messy, perhaps after a fierce battle or it was just her natural tomboyish nature.

“Oh, my?”

She recognized Woon Seong and waved her hand at him. Woon Seong saw this, snorted and looked away feigning ignorance.

She was curious about Woon Seong before, but her interest had become even more riled up ever since Woon Seong had killed No. 185 and his 5 other lackeys with utter ease.

He, in her eyes, was a sleek and fit boy with long wavy blue hair and eyes that were cold like a serpent’s.

She knew Woon Seong, but the first child she did not recognize, and one other child was just entering as well.

They didn’t know it other than Sang In-Hyo, but these were the three children that had entered aside from Woon Seong and had established themselves very early on in the Cave of Latent Demons.

Of course, there was one more person… Woon Seong, the dark horse of sorts.

No. 900 wasn’t worth much in the beginning in the eyes of the instructors, but he started growing at a frightening pace with a higher learning curve than all the other 3 children, combined.

In any case, all 4 of them at the same time flinched as they examined each other’s strengths. They knew these other 3 people aside themselves, were the other elites from the Cave of Latent Demons.

Starting with them, more children passed through their own trials of life and death hall one-by-one. When the door finally closed, there were a total of 89 people.

“Hmmm, I think there’s quite a lot. It seems you all were able to pass.”

Sang In-Hyo quickly summed up the deaths of the children who had died.

He was addressing the children who went crazy and couldn’t stand the solitude of the training and went crazy.

“Well, you did a good job anyway. You’ve now gained the titles of Demonic Captains by passing through this trial of life and death. Congratulations.”

A Demonic Captain.

Woon Seong recalled just how many Demonic Captains there were in relationship to the entire Cult of the Heavenly Demon. If one looked throughout the entire Cult of the Heavenly Demon, there were only about 2,000 of them.

The young men and women from the Cave of Latent Demons, who now had just finished their closed-door training, were officially part of those 2,000 Demonic Captains within the Cult.

It seemed this was just one of the reasons for the Cave of Latent Demons, Woon Seong thought.

Considering the Senior Instructors of the Cave of Latent Demons were Demonic Generals and Sang In-Hyo was a Great Demon; it was a great boon for the Cult of the Heavenly Demon.

“……there seem to be a few who are good enough to even be called Demonic Generals, but you must all be tired from exiting your closed-door training.”

Sang In-Hyo smiled widely as he looked at 4 children among the 89 there. They were the first four children to arrive from their closed-door training. No. 17, No. 01, No. 109 and lastly…. No. 900. 

This was the Cave of Latent Demons, and it would be an amazing blessing if Sang In-Hyo was able to produce even a single Demonic General.

However, forget one. He had four of those individuals!

“For you, the teachers have personally given you a prize. So just for today, you can eat proper meals and enjoy yourself as much as you’d like.”

When he stomped his foot lightly, a sweet, greasy and aromatic smell began to start emanating in the air.

The trainees turned their heads toward the source of the smell in unison, and servants carrying multiple bright and beautiful dishes that were enough to even make the Emperor drool in satisfaction, were being brought out.

“Come on and enjoy yourselves, you will need the food and rest in order to be prepared for your last trial of life and death inside the cave tomorrow.”

Sang In-Hyo turned his head and smiled as the food was finally placed in front of the children. He made a special emphasis on the fact that it was the final trial of life and death for them. But Woon Seong picked up on the clause at the end that left more thoughts to be desired.

‘Inside the cave that is… Hm.’

“We’ll get out of the way, so enjoy yourself.”

At the end of the speech, all the instructors, including Senior Instructors, left their seats, and the children looked at the food in front of them with puzzled eyes.

There were mountains of food

There weren’t any dishes that were not fancy enough to not be called an absolute delicacy. 

It was a beautiful scene of wonderful dishes and meats that the children had never known in their lives.

Especially so when they started their lives in the Cave of Latent Demons.

Aside from the basic nutritional supplements, they were trainees who had never eaten any dishes that could seriously fill their stomachs.

As a result, natural hesitation arose within the children. But there were four individuals who moved in between the hesitating 89 children, 

The first one was No. 01.

He moved slowly, packed a huge amount of food onto a plate, and headed to a corner to eat by himself.

Next was No 109.

He approached quietly and went to the corner with some food while sneakily moving his eyes like a rabid animal, wary of anyone who tried to touch him or his food.

Next up was No. 17, Ah-Young.

She settled down on the table, kept her dignified appearance, and started to taste the various kinds of food.

And the last one among the four to move was, No. 900, Woon Seong.

After packing only a few different foods on the table, seemingly the same kind of small amount that the children had been receiving prior to this, Woon Seong took his small plate of food and returned to where he had been leaning against the wall and started to eat very slowly, savoring the small bits of food he received.

Soon, the puzzled and hesitant trainees noticed the situation and moved with excitement on their faces.

“Wow!”

“Let’s eat!”

* * *

Sang In-Hyo, who was walking outside, called in a senior instructor to his side. It was the senior instructor in charge of the Third Hall of Latent Demons.

“I’m sure now that I’ve seen it with my own eyes. No. 900 has changed. How can one possibly look at him and think he was the 900th in terms of talent?”

“I was surprised to see it, too…. I was even more shocked to see that he had grown so much in the last 4 years, I didn’t expect him to grow all the way to the level of a Demonic General.”

Sang In-Hyo smiled at the words.

“No, he’s not just a Demonic General like the other three. That boy… he’s already above the level of No. 01, 17 and 109.”

At the words, the faces of the instructors who were listening to Sang In-Hyo, including the senior instructor in charge of the Third Hall, hardened.

Maybe that was why Sang In-Hyo asked the senior instructor in charge of No. 900’s growth for his thoughts.

“What? Are you saying he’s really stronger than ‘her’? No. 900 is stronger than No. 17?”

Sang In-Hyo replied with a shrug.

“Well yes, but one thing is for sure.”

Sang In-Hyo stopped walking and glanced back, saying so.

Among the children who were scooping the food with delight earlier, Sang In-Hyo quietly observed Woon Seong’s strength in more detail.

“That boy is a tiger among tigers.”

No. 900.

He was someone Sang In-Hyo was sure would bring a great wave of change within the Cult.

* * *

The day of rest went by quickly.

The trainees enjoyed themselves when they were first given a break, but as the break ended, they couldn’t erase their nervous expressions of what was next to come. This was because of the parting words that Sang In-Hyo had given them all.

‘After a day’s rest, there will still be the third and last trial of life and death within the Cave of Latent Demons.’

It was hard to imagine what it would be like, since the trials of life and death up till now, were all different.

Besides, they didn’t get a proper rest, but only one day’s worth.

However, there were some people who had little change in their facial expressions. Among those groups of children were Woon Seong, No. 17, No. 01 and No. 109.

It was those who were confident in their abilities to make it through whatever was thrown their way.

They were also ones who ate moderately, checking their condition safely in preparation for the next trial ahead of time by not stuffing themselves.

Wooddeuk- Wooddeuk-

Woon Seong among them, even started to meditate and check his internal qi’s condition.

Inside his dantian, he could feel the forces of qi from the Tempered True Blossom surging and writhing with unparalleled strength when compared to before the closed door training.

‘I don’t know what kind of Trial it will be, but I hope I can get through it with the iron bracers on, if possible.’

His strength was something he didn’t want to show off to the limits if possible. It was always beneficial to hide one’s true strength until it truly mattered.

If there was an unavoidable situation, Woon Seong would only display his full strength if his life was in actual danger or there would be no other witnesses.

‘Once I know what the trial is, I can decide then.’

Woon Seong circulated the internal qi within his dantian calmly as he cracked his eyes open to a slit.

Then, he examined the strength of the other 2 individuals who had arrived first with him that he wasn’t familiar with.

‘No. 01 and No. 109.’

They were said to be the top trainees within their respective halls of Latent Demons.

As he had heard the children talking amongst each other about the strongest individuals in their respective halls, Woon Seong could certainly confirm the rumors of them being strong were not exaggerated at all.

However, that was not to say that the three of them had similar levels of strength.

“No. 01 is just a half-step above No. 109 in terms of strength.”

Woon Seong determined he could defeat No. 109 with all of his bracers on.

He would likely be able to win confidently with his bracers on, as long as his strength was well balanced and his techniques were utilized properly

But the other two were a bit different. No. 01 and No. 17.

Woon Seong wasn’t sure if he could defeat No. 01 or No. 17 without taking his bracers off.

He would definitely be able to deal with them if he took off his bracers, but he was unsure of the results if he kept them on.

Woon Seong thought so and clicked his tongue.

‘I’m not strong enough yet.’

It was just an excuse to not be able to defeat them with his bracers on. If he couldn’t do that much, then he wasn’t strong enough to get his revenge now or in the near future.

However, it wasn;t that he lacked effort. He just lacked time right now to train properly and surpass them.

At least that was what Woon Seong thought as he recalled the teachings of his master.

‘Do not blame yourself for lack of effort in your training. As long as you commit yourself to your training diligently, you will always be able to seek the results you wish for.’

Woon Seong felt a sadness creep up in his mind as a tear rolled down his cheek.

However, it was quickly replaced with a fearsome and murderous intent that viciously erupted within his mind as he quickly recalled his goal of killing all those who sinned against his master.

‘They will pay with their blood.’

Woon Seong’s eyes emitted a fierce glow as the sun slowly creeped upon the Cave of Latent Demons

It was time to start the third Trial of Life and Death.

***

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]