Chapter 39

Pyo Wol stared at the bat.

It was the first creature he had seen here other than a snake. That made it feel all the more fascinating.

The bat flapped its wings continuously, trying to escape from Pyo Wol’s hand. But no matter how much it struggled, it could not break free.

As if trapped by an invisible, formless barrier, the bat floundered on Pyo Wol’s palm.

Pyo Wol casually reached out his other hand and stroked the bat. The bat’s body trembled as if it had met a predator.

“Shh, shh!”

Pyo Wol made a strange sound as he petted the bat, as if soothing a small child. The bat froze like ice, unable to move a muscle.

Pyo Wol smirked slightly.

His white teeth were revealed in the darkness.

His appearance was astonishingly demonic.

He didn’t know how many years he had spent in this place.

He could only guess that he had been here for quite a long time from his long hair and shaggy beard.

An ordinary person would have gone mad without lasting even a few days in a place like this. But Pyo Wol had kept his sanity intact.

No, perhaps he had gone mad and was simply unaware of it.

Pyo Wol thought it didn’t matter either way.

All he had done during that time was circulate the Thunderbolt Soul Severing Mind Method, assimilate with the snakes, and learn Martial Arts.

The daily life, repeating like a hamster wheel, was so monotonous that no one in their right mind could endure it.

Once the Thunderbolt Soul Severing Mind Method reached a certain level, he could no longer distinguish whether he was a snake or a human.

He breathed like a snake and saw the world through a snake’s eyes. And at some point, he reached a state where he could breathe through his skin, like some snakes.

It wasn’t something he did by choice. It just happened naturally, like breathing.

Once he had mastered the habits of a snake, he made no sound when he walked. No matter how narrow the gap, if he could get his head through, his entire body could pass.

The abilities of the Thunderbolt Soul Severing Mind Method did not end there.

It enabled an explosive expansion and acceleration of his thoughts.

He could think more broadly and decide more quickly. And his body reacted instantly to such changes in his brain.

He had acquired reflexes and physical abilities that transcended human limits.

Pyo Wol was not satisfied with just that.

While circulating the Thunderbolt Soul Severing Mind Method, he delved into the Seventy-Two Cutting Waves.

Before returning to the underground cavern, his mastery of the Seventy-Two Cutting Waves was only about four-tenths.

That level of achievement was only reached after breaking through the Celestial Net.

The Seventy-Two Cutting Waves was a Supreme Art created in the early days of the Qingcheng Sect. Although it had since been overshadowed by later Supreme Arts, it was by no means a Martial Art to be taken lightly.

Pyo Wol persistently dug into the Seventy-Two Cutting Waves.

By learning and contemplating it again and again, his mastery deepened.

When the Seventy-Two Cutting Waves reached a certain level, he researched a way to perform it with his bare hands. He deconstructed the Seventy-Two Cutting Waves, breaking down each Technique Form and modifying it to suit his bare hands.

His attempts failed dozens of times. But Pyo Wol never once felt disappointed or despaired.

When he failed, he went back to the beginning and thought again.

He pruned all the useless branches, leaving only the main trunk. Then he reassembled it to his own liking.

His intellect, which had made a Breakthrough thanks to the Thunderbolt Soul Severing Mind Method, made Pyo Wol’s actions possible.

In this way, Pyo Wol mastered the Seventy-Two Cutting Waves to its absolute peak.

After mastering the Seventy-Two Cutting Waves, he delved into the Emei Sect’s Drifting Snow Piercing Cloud Palm.

Although they were in the same Sichuan Province, the Martial Arts of the Qingcheng Sect and the Emei Sect were vastly different.

The Two Sects had different origins.

If the Qingcheng Sect was rooted in Taoism, the Emei Sect had its origins in Buddhism. Naturally, everything from their Internal Energy Mind Method to their philosophy was bound to be starkly different.

To learn two such drastically different Martial Arts at the same time was an extremely dangerous thing. But Pyo Wol paid no heed and learned the Drifting Snow Piercing Cloud Palm.

The Drifting Snow Piercing Cloud Palm was characterized by its fleeting, drifting nature, like snow scattered by the wind.

It was a Martial Art in the same vein as the Wudang Sect’s Cotton Palm.

A drifting Martial Art was much more difficult to learn than a powerful and fierce one. This was because it could not display its proper power without delicate control of Internal Energy and strength.

For that reason, even Gong-un, who had obtained a copy of the Drifting Snow Piercing Cloud Palm, had not dared to learn it easily.

For the Drifting Snow Piercing Cloud Palm to exert its proper power, one must learn the Emei Sect’s Mind Method.

Without the support of its unique Mind Method, its true power could not be drawn out.

Unaware of this fact, Pyo Wol learned the Drifting Snow Piercing Cloud Palm based on the Thunderbolt Soul Severing Mind Method.

Naturally, he could not draw out its proper power.

His learning speed was also bound to be slow.

Still, Pyo Wol did not give up.

All he had was time.

There were only a few things he could do in a place where day and night were indistinguishable.

Even if he failed, he could just try again.

He didn’t need to worry about the side effects of failure.

Pyo Wol’s body, having accepted the habits and characteristics of a snake, was tougher and more flexible than most Outer arts Experts, and it absorbed any impact without strain.

Just as he had deconstructed the Seventy-Two Cutting Waves, Pyo Wol broke down the Drifting Snow Piercing Cloud Palm into small pieces and reassembled it to suit himself.

Thus, the Drifting Snow Piercing Cloud Palm was reborn in Pyo Wol’s hands.

Pyo Wol was not satisfied with that.

He tried to fuse the essence of the Seventy-Two Cutting Waves and the Drifting Snow Piercing Cloud Palm back into his Killing Method.

Naturally, his attempts repeatedly ended in failure.

Sometimes he was on the verge of Qi Deviation, and other times his heart meridians nearly burst from the backflow of Internal Energy.

He had been on the brink of death in a near-fatal state dozens of times.

Each time, Pyo Wol sought out the snake pit.

He regained his vitality by circulating the Thunderbolt Soul Severing Mind Method among the snakes and recovered his strength by catching and eating them.

Every time he overcame a life-threatening crisis, he shed his skin like a snake. With each layer of skin that peeled off, his body became tougher and stronger.

In this way, Pyo Wol overcame death and grew stronger.

Now, the bat did not flap its wings. It sat obediently on Pyo Wol’s palm, awaiting its fate.

Pyo Wol had no intention of killing the bat.

Because the bat was proof that a passage to the outside had opened.

This was the first time Pyo Wol had seen a bat in the underground cavern. If the bat had really come from the outside, there must be a passage.

“Excellent!”

He had just been thinking about going outside soon anyway.

He had realized that any further Training was meaningless.

Pyo Wol did not know exactly what his level of Martial prowess was. But he was confident that he would not be easily pushed back in a fight against any Martial Artist in Jianghu.

Pyo Wol began to walk.

He passed the corridor where the jailers’ quarters were and headed for the huge underground cavern.

The Hall Complex that had been built inside the underground cavern had not withstood the flow of time and had collapsed, leaving only ruins.

Pyo Wol searched the ruins.

A moment later, he held tattered clothes in his hands.

They were the clothes of the Emei Sect Disciples who had died here. Pyo Wol had stripped the male Disciples’ clothes and stored them here.

Here, with no one watching, he could live naked as much as he wanted, but he couldn’t do that outside.

Pyo Wol put on the clothes that looked the most intact.

The texture felt unfamiliar, as it had been a long time since he had worn clothes. But he believed he would get used to it quickly.

Just as he always had.

That was the end of his preparations to leave.

There was no excitement.

His heart was strangely calm.

Perhaps his heart had grown as cold as a snake’s from spending so much time with them.

Pyo Wol opened his palm wide. Still, the bat made no attempt to fly away.

Pyo Wol thought he should set the bat free. Then, as if by magic, the bat flapped its wings vigorously.

After fluttering in place for a moment, the bat began to soar powerfully into the air.

Pyo Wol watched carefully in the direction the bat was heading.

The bat seemed to fly towards the ceiling, but then it changed direction and headed for a wall. A moment later, it vanished without a trace.

Pyo Wol approached the direction where the bat had disappeared.

It was a section of the wall located a good ten-odd Zhang above the ground. When he touched the wall, he felt a small crack.

It was a space so narrow that only Pyo Wol’s head could barely fit.

Inside the wall was a pile of broken rubble. It seemed the wall had recently weakened and collapsed.

Pyo Wol brought his face to the crack. He felt a cold wind. Air was flowing in from the outside.

“Heeup!”

Pyo Wol inhaled the fresh air from outside deep into his lungs. Although it was no different from the air in the cavern since it came through an underground passage, the feeling was different.

Just the fact that it flowed in from the outside, not the underground cavern, made Pyo Wol’s heart beat faster than usual.

The crack was another unknown space for Pyo Wol.

A small bat might have crawled in somehow, but there was no guarantee that there was a space a person could pass through.

One wrong move and he could get stuck in the middle, unable to go forward or back. Even someone with outstanding Martial Arts would be bound to feel fear. But Pyo Wol was different.

After living in harmony with darkness and snakes for so long, he had become unable to feel the emotion of fear.

Pyo Wol unhesitatingly stuck his head into the small crack.

It was only large enough for a single head to fit, but strangely, Pyo Wol’s shoulders and body slid through the narrow space as if gliding.

Inside the crack was utter darkness.

It was so pitch-black that he couldn’t even see his own hand. But Pyo Wol showed no sign of fear and crawled forward without hesitation.

Darkness was familiar to him.

To others, it might be an object of fear, but to him, it felt as comfortable as a mother’s womb.

Pyo Wol had perfectly adapted to the darkness. He could see in this level of darkness as clearly as if it were broad daylight.

Pyo Wol crawled without rest.

Sharp rock fragments like blades and unidentified minerals protruded everywhere, but none of them could injure Pyo Wol’s body.

Pyo Wol moved as if sliding smoothly, just like a snake.

Ssssk!

Only the sound of his clothes rustling echoed in the darkness.

Pyo Wol crawled ceaselessly through the darkness.

He couldn’t guess where the end of the crack was.

Sometimes it went endlessly underground, and other times a near-vertical passage appeared. But Pyo Wol crawled on and on without a single sign of exhaustion.

How long had he been crawling like that? A faint light appeared in the distance.

For a moment, a look of intense emotion crossed Pyo Wol’s face.

No matter how emotionally desiccated he had become, he couldn’t help but feel a stir of emotion at the sight of light after so long.

He wanted to go to where the light was right away, but Pyo Wol stopped moving.

His eyes were perfectly adapted to the darkness. If he went out into the bright world in this state, his eyeballs would not be able to withstand it and would either necrotize or he would go blind.

His heart was racing, but he had to rest here and let his eyes adjust to the light.

Pyo Wol crouched down and looked at the faint light shining in the distance. Just that alone made him feel a pain as if his eyeballs would burst.

Pyo Wol quickly turned his head and looked in the opposite direction. The pain subsided a little.

Pyo Wol approached the entrance a little more each day. Just approaching the light caused intense pain in his eyes and skin.

Pyo Wol shuddered at the pain, which felt like thousands of needles piercing his entire body. But he did not give up and gradually adapted to the light.

It took a full ten days to completely adapt to the light. Only then did Pyo Wol go outside.

What Pyo Wol squeezed out of was a narrow space between large rocks. The gap between the rocks was so narrow that no one would ever imagine it led to the deep underground.

Pyo Wol crawled out of the crevice, which seemed only a raccoon or a weasel could pass through.

Pyo Wol couldn’t lift his head for a moment.

Although he had adapted to the light as much as possible inside the cave, facing the sunlight directly like this gave him a different dimension of pain.

He felt a pain as if his whole body was burning, and a thirst. This was the extent of his adaptation.

Pyo Wol did not avoid the pain.

He stared directly at the blazing sun.

As time passed, the pain gradually disappeared.

His flushed skin calmed down, his tears slowly stopped, and the bloodshot redness in his eyes faded.

“Huu!”

Only then did Pyo Wol let out a sigh and turn his head to look around.

An unfamiliar landscape came into view.

The vertical cave leading to the underground cavern was on the mountain peak. But this place was at the foot of the mountain. Thanks to that, he was spared the trouble of descending the mountain.

Pyo Wol glanced at the mountain peak for a moment, then started walking.

There was no lingering attachment.

He wanted to leave this godforsaken place as quickly as possible.

Pyo Wol walked without looking back.

The scent of the forest tickled the tip of his nose. A gentle breeze caressed his body as it passed by.

It was a sensation he could never have felt in the underground cavern where everything was still.

It felt as if all the senses in his body were coming back to life.

Only now did he truly feel alive.

After walking for a while, a fairly large stream appeared.

Pyo Wol looked at his reflection in the stream.

A strange man was looking back at him from the water.

The long hair that came down to his waist and the beard that covered his chest were unfamiliar. He had guessed he would look something like this, but seeing it with his own eyes made it feel like someone else’s face.

Pyo Wol jumped into the water.

He swam in the water, washing away all the grime that had accumulated over the years.

After washing off the unique underground smell that clung to his body, he took out a small Flying Dagger from his waist.

It was the only tool he had brought from the underground cavern.

Pyo Wol looked at his reflection on the water’s surface and roughly cut his hair and beard. Then his true face was revealed.

Skin as white as snow from not seeing the sun for a long time, contrasted with black hair and eyes that held a faint Crimson Light. And androgynous, decadent features.

The strange atmosphere, as if he were not of this world, and his beautiful face felt unfamiliar.

Pyo Wol stood blankly for a long time, staring at his reflection on the water’s surface.