Episode 03: Why the Hell Is That Here?
Honestly, I almost pissed myself from shock.
The sword was clearly visible as it came toward me, and yet I couldn’t react at all.
Anyone who’s had LASIK surgery would understand.
That terror of keeping your eyes open while something sharp comes at you.
Now imagine that terror magnified by a hundred.
That’s what I felt.
Still, maybe it was lucky that my face didn’t even manage to register that fear. The sword came too fast for my expression to keep up.
What just happened?
I survived purely by chance.
I should’ve been decapitated for not reacting, but the Black Shadow Corps showed up at the perfect moment.
But the relief and joy of surviving lasted only a moment.
Very soon, a scene unfolded before my eyes that turned my face pale.
“Uaaagh!”
“P-Please, spare me!”
Sharp flashes of sword light rained down from all sides, and blood splattered.
In the echoing cave, screams and groans reverberated everywhere.
Blood painted the cave walls, and bodies dropped to the cold ground.
Was this hell?
The sight was so gruesome it made me want to vomit.
But in the world of Return of the Murim, this was barely a mild skirmish.
Besides, I wasn’t just anyone—I was Sado Hwan now.
I couldn’t let myself waver.
A martial artist collapsed on the cold floor, dying with his eyes wide open in resentment.
If I failed to act like Sado Hwan, I’d end up like that.
To survive, I had no choice but to keep acting.
To hide my trembling hands, I clasped them behind my back, pretending to be relaxed.
I straightened my back and stared directly ahead, forcing my eyes not to wander.
Still, the tremors starting in my hands threatened to ripple through my entire body.
‘Please stop shaking…!’
I desperately begged my body in silence.
Then, it happened.
Woom—
The inner energy that had gathered in my eyes spread throughout my entire body.
It felt like warm blood rushing through my veins, and the trembling subsided almost instantly.
My mind calmed, my thoughts settled.
This absurd, overpowered internal energy…
Its effectiveness was insane.
Well, that made sense. The inner energy Sado Hwan possessed wasn’t built through ordinary cultivation techniques.
He couldn’t project it externally due to his blocked meridians, but the quality and power of the energy itself were unmatched.
Despite the horrific scene before me, I could stay composed.
More accurately, it felt like all negative emotions were quickly being cleansed away.
“Are you all right?”
Ack—
I almost lost that composure just now.
The woman who had blocked Morong-su’s sword appeared next to me, speaking quietly. She’d approached like a ghost.
Still, thanks to the inner energy coursing through me, I managed not to flinch.
She looked delicate at a glance, aside from her cold and sharp expression.
Her appearance was beautiful enough to rival real-world idols.
It was hard to believe such slender wrists had deflected Morong-su’s blade.
“I’m fine.”
I answered in a much steadier voice, now freed from trembling.
“I will finish Morong-su.”
Morong-su had used the confusion to slip away into the crowd.
No doubt, he intended to flee.
He was a hypocrite of the orthodox sects, after all.
Before I could say anything, the woman vanished, leaving only a flickering afterimage behind.
I let out a small sigh.
Honestly, if I had to choose the scariest person in this whole cave, it was her.
There’s an old saying in martial arts: beware the elderly, women, and children.
She was the one responsible for the "woman" part of that saying.
Ranked 24th in the Demonic Cult.
Saweol, vice-captain of the Black Shadow Corps.
A human weapon created by the Sado Clan.
And—
“One of the few who knows Sado Hwan’s secret.”
Saweol was essentially his bodyguard, put in place to help hide the fact that Sado Hwan couldn’t project his inner energy.
It wasn’t a coincidence that her rank was 24, just below Sado Hwan’s 23.
If anyone challenged him, Sado Hwan would scoff and tell them to defeat his subordinate first.
Then Saweol would shut them down completely.
She had already surpassed Peak and was knocking on the door of Super Peak.
No one ranked below could dream of defeating her.
The top 20 were filled with true monsters, and the 21st and 22nd were too busy aiming for that level to worry about ranks below them.
That’s why Sado Hwan, despite his awkwardly placed 23rd rank, could still reign like a true powerhouse.
The good news: for now, she still obeyed my commands.
She appeared loyal on the surface.
If the novel continued as written, her true intentions would reveal themselves later.
I had to win her over before then.
Someone who could fight like that and follow orders?
Only Saweol.
She was a top recruitment priority.
Before I knew it, the situation in the cave had mostly settled down.
The only one left standing was Morong-su.
He was covered in blood after being wrecked by Saweol.
Black blood trickled endlessly from his mouth—clear signs of severe internal injury.
“Hahaha…”
He gave a hollow laugh, his hair disheveled. He looked completely defeated.
“To think I couldn’t even beat some young girl... how pathetic!”
At those words, I noticed Saweol’s brow twitch.
To reach that level of martial prowess with a woman’s body must have taken unimaginable hardship.
He had completely disregarded that.
“This is my chance.”
A chance to score points.
Sado Hwan had surely done his share of arrogant and disgraceful things.
Now was my chance to flip that perception.
When someone who’s always kind slips once, it hits differently than when someone always infuriating shows a single act of decency.
I still wasn’t fully sure of my current situation,
but turning a hostile figure into an ally could only help me.
‘In this case…’
A different tone was needed.
Grave, authoritative, but not overtly furious.
“Foolish.”
My low voice echoed.
“What?”
“In the world of martial arts, there is only strength and weakness. There is no man or woman.”
Saweol flinched slightly. She had clearly reacted.
“A weakling like you who can’t even break free from such petty notions—that’s the reason you’re weak.”
Morong-su couldn’t even respond. His long beard merely quivered.
He likely couldn’t resist any further.
The blood he vomited was only increasing.
At this rate, he would die from blood loss even if left alone.
Honestly, I felt like I could beat him myself now.
But I couldn’t let my guard down.
This was Return of the Murim, where miracles and power-ups ran wild.
If I let him survive, he’d probably have some crazy breakthrough and return stronger.
“Finish it.”
I gave the order to take a man’s life.
Strangely, I felt no emotional disturbance.
Was it thanks to the inner energy coursing through me?
Maybe it was a relief.
Modern sentiments wouldn’t help me survive in the brutal world of Murim.
Hearing my order, Saweol drew her sword again.
Just as she swung it with fierce momentum—
KWAANG!!!
A sudden explosion echoed as the ground shook.
Flames erupted from the entrance.
The blast made Saweol’s sword miss its mark.
“Hahaha!”
A bitter laugh rang out.
At the top ledge of the cliff-like cave wall, where just one person could stand, the missing masked man reappeared.
“Die, you evil bastards!”
The flames surged in like a tidal wave from the entrance.
So this was the explosion he’d hinted at?
So much for collapsing the cave...
In true wuxia fashion, Return of the Murim featured things like “Thunderblasts”—explosives used in martial warfare.
Not cost-effective, but perfect for collapsing caves.
The cave let out a voiceless scream as the ceiling crumbled.
Stalactites rained down like deadly spears.
The Black Shadow Corps members swung their weapons to deflect them.
I, of course, had neither the technique nor ability to do the same.
‘Please don’t fall on my head…’
All I could do was stand tall, maintaining Sado Hwan’s composed image.
If it got too bad, maybe Saweol would cover for me.
I glanced in her direction.
She had already leapt away with a graceful movement technique.
…Betrayed.
From the look on her face as she turned back in surprise, I could tell—she had totally forgotten about me.
Thankfully, no stalactites fell near me.
“Chief! Are you all right?!”
One of the Black Shadow Corps called out while deflecting falling rock.
“Don’t make a fuss over something this minor.”
“Of course! You had already predicted the exact trajectory, hadn’t you?”
He nodded in awe at my words.
This is the power of image-building.
Everyone believed Sado Hwan was an absolute powerhouse, so they interpreted everything I did through that lens.
Eventually, the rain of stalactites ended.
“We’ll escort you.”
Saweol returned belatedly, just as I was about to say something out of spite—
BOOM!
Suddenly, the cave wall collapsed, and a flood of rubble poured in like a tidal wave.
I stumbled backward in a panic.
A wall of debris separated Saweol and me.
And it didn’t stop there.
Krrrk.
An ominous sound echoed—
The ground gave way beneath me.
“Chief!”
I was sucked straight down—
“Uaaaagh!”
Of all people, I fell with Morong-su.
***
Something wet tickled my face, and I opened my eyes.
Water was dripping from a stalactite above.
Talk about martial arts clichés.
But thankfully—I was alive.
I could feel every part of my body.
By some miracle, I’d survived unscathed.
After all, it’d be beyond unfair if my body got destroyed right after I’d been thrown into a new one.
Anyway... where am I?
It was too dark to see.
I focused my eyes.
The inner energy rushed to them, and finally, I could see ahead.
I turned my head and looked around.
It was a cave—but not a natural one with jagged walls and uneven floors.
Everything was smoothly carved. Man-made.
Behind me, the way was blocked by the collapsed tunnel.
But ahead, a path stretched forward.
There was another artificial chamber beneath the cave.
“No way…”
There’s only one thing that could mean.
A fortuitous encounter!
The world of Return of the Murim was full of these opportunities.
They were scattered everywhere to justify the crazy power scaling.
And I’d just stumbled into one.
“…But I can’t use it.”
At the core of martial cultivation is the ability to release energy externally.
Sado Hwan’s body couldn’t do that at all.
Sure, the sheer physical stats of this body were impressive thanks to the internal energy.
If I went back to the modern world, I could break Olympic records in every sport.
But that didn’t make me a true “superhuman.”
Still, I have to check.
There’s a chance this isn’t a martial technique but a weapon or artifact.
Something even Sado Hwan’s body might be able to use.
I walked forward.
After about five minutes, I reached an enormous open space.
It looked like a plaza, connected by ten different tunnels.
In the center—stood an altar.
And altars always meant fortuitous encounters.
But that wasn’t the important part.
Morong-su.
He had collapsed, crawling toward the altar.
Unlike me, his left arm was missing.
It seemed he had exited through another tunnel and dragged himself here.
His back twitched slightly—he was still alive.
What could have made him crawl toward the altar in that state?
I turned my eyes—
—and nearly vomited from shock.
A sword was embedded in the center of the altar.
“No f*cking way. Why is that here?!”