Return of the Sword Emperor - Chapter 27

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 10: The Forbidden Zone (2)

Nam Gung Ho, who had been tracking Dok Go Jin’s movements, suddenly clapped his hands and raised his voice.

“Oh right, I heard that this place is… Ahhh!”

Crack-crack-boom!
Thunder roared in the same instant Nam Gung Ho screamed.
Hyung Wui and the others, who had been unfastening the iron chain and turned at Nam Gung Ho’s cry, burst into laughter.

“Come now, he’s not even a child—why jump like that at thunder?”
“Ha! They say those with many sins startle easily at thunder’s sound.”
“That voice of his cuts right through the storm. Quite remarkable, really.”

Nam Gung Ho could do nothing but endure the mockery directed at him.
The truth was, his scream had not been intentional. Of course, his plan had been to feign alarm at the thunder that followed the lightning and draw attention that way.
But there was a reason his cry had come before the thunder itself, and why it had been entirely unplanned.
Before the thunder struck, Dok Go Jin had suddenly leaped into the shaft.
He had expected Dok Go Jin to approach as swiftly as a cat yet as stealthily as dawn mist, to grasp the iron chain and descend—instead, his reckless plunge filled Nam Gung Ho with shock.

‘Insane. He’s lost his mind.’

Even knowing that Dok Go Jin must have had some plan, his heart sank so violently he gasped.
Despite the brief commotion, the iron chain connecting the wooden crate continued its descent, and contrary to Nam Gung Ho’s fears, Dok Go Jin, who had thrown himself into the shaft, caught the chain cleanly.

‘Terrifying.’

Dok Go Jin stared into the pitch-black shaft and drew a deep breath.
It felt as if the wooden crate suspended by the iron chain would soon reach the Forbidden Zone.
Clang!
The iron chain shuddered violently and came to a stop, its surface scraping against stone.
The rope attached to the interior of the crate shifted, and the wooden crate flipped over in one swift motion.
As food from within the crate spilled to the floor, he sensed prisoners who had been waiting already moving urgently.
Screee-scrape!
With an eerie grinding sound, the iron chain that had paused resumed its ascent.
Dok Go Jin, who had been holding his position midway, descended rapidly, then flung himself clear.
Landing directly on the wooden crate, Dok Go Jin kicked off again, launching himself once more into the air.
The rebound caused the crate to sway and the chain to tremble, but since he had kept his body as light as possible, it drew no particular notice.
In mere heartbeats, Dok Go Jin soared over a dozen zhang and dissolved completely into the darkness.
As the iron chain pierced the darkness and reached the seven-level prison zone, a large torch fell from above.

“Why drop a torch?” Nam Gung Ho asked.

A middle-aged man gazed downward and replied.

“There’s no real need, but we check to see if anything’s stuck to the chain. All clear.”
“Quite… thorough.”

Nam Gung Ho could not bring himself to look down and managed only a forced smile.
Four days from now—he had no confidence that Dok Go Jin would return safely from that darkness.

* * *

After rolling to correct his posture, Dok Go Jin’s nostrils were assaulted by the thick dampness and stale underground reek, along with something difficult to name—the stench of despair itself.

‘One, two, three… six total. Where are the other two?’

Dok Go Jin counted the prisoners who had rushed forward to claim the scattered food.
He had heard that seven prisoners were confined in the Forbidden Zone before Deung Bi was imprisoned, and so he tilted his head in puzzlement.

‘I’ve heard rumors that I might die down here, but…….’

Dok Go Jin pressed himself completely into the shadows, studying the prisoners below.

“Curse these wretches! Twenty years have passed and not a shred of change?”

Gwi Myeon Sashin, who had been locked in the Forbidden Zone the longest, clenched a loaf of bread hard as stone and gnashed his teeth.
Deung Bi stared at the bread in his palm.
The memory of that desolation returned — when he’d learned that the bread, hardened beyond the reach of his teeth, could only be eaten after soaking it in water that seeped down the walls.

“Do you know why this bread has hardened so completely?”

Ban An, the Jade-Faced Scholar, had crept closer and posed the question.

“No.”

At the unspoken command in Gwi Myeon Sashin’s eyes, Ban An began cutting the bread with effort and spoke.

“Some of it is just time passing, but when they mixed the dough, they added San Gong Poison to it. If they’d used only a small amount, it wouldn’t harden like this—but they really poured it in. The taste is absolutely vile too. Though there is a way to make it slightly more palatable, if you’d like me to show you?”

Ban An asked with a false, ingratiating smile.

“Never mind.”

Deung Bi had no desire to associate with him after witnessing Ban An use water from the wall to soak bread and then eat it crawling with insects.

“Hehehehe! Still, with more people around, they’ve increased the bread a little.”

At Wang Wi’s remark, Heuk Gwang—who had been grinding bread beneath his heel—let out a bitter laugh.

“As if it’s enough to fill our bellies. Filthy dogs! If you’re going to lock us up here, fine—but if you want to torment us this long, the least they could do is feed us properly.”

Heuk Gwang, his complaint spent, began stuffing broken pieces of bread into his mouth one after another and chewing miserably.

“Dissolving bread with saliva—that’s no way to live. The stench aside, soaking it in water from the walls is better. Only some old fool with time to spare and nothing else to do would act like that.”

Ban An, who had drifted over, spoke in a low murmur. Then he quickly turned away, evading the piercing glare Heuk Gwang shot at him.

“Now then, we don’t know where this little mouse came from, but having watched us long enough, wouldn’t it be courteous to show yourself?”

Gwi Myeon Sashin called out, his gaze fixed directly on the spot where Dok Go Jin hid.

“Exactly. Did you really think we hadn’t noticed? Your senses are pathetically dull.”

Ban An scoffed even as he slyly kicked a piece of bread that Heuk Gwang had failed to retrieve toward himself.
Dok Go Jin, realizing concealment was pointless, slowly rose to his feet and brushed the dust from his clothes. Then, eyes adjusted to the darkness, he confronted the prisoners of the Forbidden Zone directly.

“I heard you’d all received your execution orders, yet your mouths are still running.”
“This bastard…….”

A chill, lethal aura flickered across Ban An’s eyes—eyes that ordinarily held a constant smile.
Dok Go Jin’s mouth twisted into a harsh sneer as he glanced at Ban An.

“The youngest prisoner ever locked in the Forbidden Zone, the greatest lecher under heaven—Ban An. So it’s you.”
“Ha! You scarred-mouth bastard, spouting such——”

Ban An’s words never reached their end.
Dok Go Jin suddenly lunged, sweeping a kick at Ban An’s legs.
The instant Dok Go Jin attacked, Ban An, already alert, retreated to the side and drove his knee upward in a counter toward Dok Go Jin’s.
The prisoners of the Forbidden Zone were known to be completely neutralized by the San Gong Poison mixed into the food distributed once every four days. Yet Ban An’s response to Dok Go Jin’s sudden assault was unmistakably the movement of someone who had not lost their martial cultivation.

‘So he’s recovering after all.’

Dok Go Jin’s eyes narrowed at Ban An’s response, far swifter than anticipated.
The prisoners of the Forbidden Zone had recovered their martial cultivation with Gwi Myeon Sashin’s aid, overturned the Repentance Prison, and scattered to the winds. Without forgetting their past notoriety, they resumed their wicked ways. Among them, the one with the most fearsome reputation was the Jade-Faced Prince, Ban An.
In the three years between his escape from Repentance Prison and his death at the hands of the Demonic Path Alliance’s Supreme Tiger-Protecting Method Sword Demon, the women who fell victim to his predations and murders reached one hundred and fifty—making him the vilest combination of murderer and sexual fiend since time immemorial.

‘I may spare the others. Not you.’

Dok Go Jin bit down hard on his lip and rushed at Ban An again.
Convinced he could not match Dok Go Jin in a single clash, Ban An simply spun on his heel and fled.

“Elders! Help me!”

Gwi Myeon Sashin and Wang Wi, known for his Seven Treasures One Kill technique, watched Ban An cry out for help as he wheeled behind them, their faces darkening.
Dok Go Jin’s martial cultivation was no ordinary affair.
Had he fully recovered his former strength, it would be one thing; but at this stage, with time still needed, there was little point in engaging—they would gain nothing but a bitter sight.

“Stand aside, old men. I need only this one. If you don’t interfere, you’ll leave with your lives.”

Dok Go Jin hurled his murderous warning and charged forward without hesitation.

“Heh.”

A sigh escaped Gwi Myeon Sashin’s lips. Wang Wi, too, found himself lost in an anguish too bitter to bear. Yet he could not afford to clash with Dok Go Jin this moment.
Gwi Myeon Sashin and Wang Wi met each other’s gaze.
The tenor of the scene suggested Dok Go Jin had crept into the Forbidden Zone secretly because of his personal enmity with Ban An.
After their silent exchange, Gwi Myeon Sashin and Wang Wi did not move aside. Yet neither did they lift a hand to stop Dok Go Jin. They simply stood rooted in place, clinging to what last shred of pride remained.

“A dignified posture indeed.”

Dok Go Jin sneered as he passed by them, then caught Ban An by the nape of the neck.
Ban An twisted his body and raked his fingers—stiffened like an eagle’s talons—across the space where Dok Go Jin had been.

‘Soul-Stealing Ghost Claw!’

Recognizing the technique Ban An wielded, Dok Go Jin gnashed his teeth.
Every woman whose life Ban An had stolen bore five holes pierced through the crown of her skull—the unmistakable mark of the Soul-Stealing Ghost Claw.
Dok Go Jin did not dodge the fingers thrusting toward his head. Instead, he reached out and wedged his own fingers between Ban An’s, locking them in place.
Panic flashed across Ban An’s face as he tried to wrench free, but his hand was already bound fast.
Crack!
The sound of bone shattering—Ban An’s body lurched.
With a single blow, Dok Go Jin shattered Ban An’s shin, then struck his reeling face with a vicious backhand.
Smack!
Ban An’s head snapped violently to the side with the sharp report of impact.
Five teeth flew from his mouth, scattering in the direction his head had turned.

“Do you know what crimes you’ve committed?”
“I… I…”

Toothless, Ban An could barely articulate, shaking his head in denial.

“It doesn’t matter if you know or not. I know. I know every sin you’ve committed—and every sin you yet will commit.”

A glacial smile crossed Dok Go Jin’s face as he tightened his grip on Ban An’s interlaced hands.

“Nnnngh…”

Ban An stared at his own hands in horror-stricken terror.
Fingers that had once been harder than steel now bent uselessly beneath his grip.
Crack!
The middle finger snapped first.

“Uuugh!”

Before Ban An could even register the agony, his index and ring fingers shattered, and finally his pinky bent like nothing at all.

“Aaaaagh!”

A piercing wail tore from Ban An’s throat.
But it was more than pain that wrung that cry from him—it was the bitter injustice of being unable to reclaim the glory of his former days, of being forced to endure this ruin. Dok Go Jin heard it plainly. So did the prisoners watching from a distance, their own shame seeping into them like poison, understanding all too well what they were witnessing.
Snap!
Dok Go Jin shattered the shin of Ban An’s remaining leg, then hurled his body to the ground.

“But here’s the real problem.”

When Ban An saw Dok Go Jin’s gaze drift downward between his legs, his eyes flooded with a terror far worse than death itself.
The prisoners watched Ban An thrash about in desperation to escape what was coming, and a chill ran through them all. The realization that this could be their own fate sent their eyes darting away in fear.

“No, no, anything but—aaaaaaagh!”

His trembling pleas dissolved into a scream more anguished than any that had come before.

“Filthy business.”

Dok Go Jin withdrew his foot from between Ban An’s legs, his expression one of cold distaste.
Even after he stepped away, Ban An’s screams continued long into the darkness, showing no sign of stopping.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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