Chapter 148. Trying to Row a Boat On Land (19)
Warning: this chapter contains depictions of torture.
Thwack, thwack.
Woo-Moon quickly pressed several of the acupoints on the eunuch’s chest.
“Try touching near your heart.”
Now that his movement acupoint had also been released, the eunuch was able to touch his chest.
Then came an agonizing pain!
“AG–!”
Just before he could scream, Woo-Moon covered his mouth.
“It feels like you’re having a heart attack, right?”
Unable to speak, the eunuch nodded, tears streaming down his face. Woo-Moon could also smell something slightly astringent in the air—clearly, the young man had peed himself.
Feeling sorry for the eunuch but also finding the situation funny, Woo-Moon smiled slightly under his mask.
“You can’t say anything whatsoever from this point on. The moment you say anything, your heart will explode.”
The startled eunuch looked even more shocked and began to cry harder.
“The only way to fix this is for you to return to your quarters the second I let you go and sleep until morning. You’ll be fine when you wake up. Remember, you have to go back to your quarters and sleep immediately. You can’t say one word to anyone. Do you understand?”
The eunuch nodded again.
“Good. Then, you can go. Come on, off with you.”
Making sure no one was around to see them, Woo-Moon placed the eunuch back on the ground.
As soon as he was released, the eunuch walked briskly toward his room. He was so afraid that he might accidentally say something that he actually covered his mouth with his hand.
‘Alright, that’s done. Let’s see... that way, he said?’
Woo-Moon had imbued the eunuch’s acupoint with his qi before unlocking his movement acupoint.
At this very moment, there was a lump on the eunuch’s chest that caused him pain whenever touched. However, it would disappear by tomorrow morning, and the qi stored in it would actually make him healthier, too.
Arriving at the pavilion that had been pointed out to him by the eunuch, Woo-Moon drew Inkblade and cut a hole in the pavilion’s roof.
As the cut-out on the roof began to fall, Woo-Moon used Void Grasp to catch it and pull it through the hole he had made.
Of course, none of his actions made any sounds.
After entering the pavilion and hanging from the ceiling, Woo-Moon returned the cut-out of the roof to its proper place and sealed it back into place, conjuring a small wisp of Samadhi True Flame to weld the metal together.
‘Perfect.’
No one would notice that someone had broken in through here.
Woo-Moon had entered the pavilion through its highest floor. The halls of the pavilion were immersed in darkness at this late hour; the only light was provided by tiny slivers of moonlight that crept through the windows. However, even in this dim light, he could tell that the Seal-Holding Eunuch Director wasn’t present.
Shhhh.
He moved like the wind, going down one level after another, yet his target was nowhere to be found.
‘Just where is he?’
At that exact moment, he heard a muffled scream coming from far underground.
“Mmmm! MMM!”
Woo-Moon quickly descended into the basement, descending lower and lower until he entered a room located on the fourth underground level.
“...”
The sight before him was so horrid that he forgot all words.
Two demons stood before him. One looked regretful, while the other chattered with a smile.
“This child was too weak. To think he’d die so quickly.”
The room was littered with various torture instruments.
There was a large frame in the center, and on top of it lay a dead naked boy littered with hideous wounds.
In addition to the wounds gushing blood, there were scabs and other scars all over his body, as if he had been undergoing this torture for a very long time.
A faint warmth could be felt from the corpse, which had its mouth covered with a cloth to prevent the sound of screaming.
It was clear that he had been alive just a moment ago. However, he had been in such a weak state that his body temperature felt more like someone who’d died for a while.
Just a little eunuch, barely ten years old.
“It seems we’ll have to bring another child, Palace Maintenance Director.”
“Well, these young eunuchs come in every day, so that doesn’t matter. It’s just a shame that it’ll be difficult to find a child as pretty as this one.”
The two were the Seal-Holding Eunuch Directors of Imperial Regalia and Palace Maintenance, respectively. They had the same hobby and had been relishing it within the Forbidden City for several years.
Considering that they had the status and means necessary to create an entire secret torture chamber within the imperial palace without anyone being the wiser, it was a straightforward task for them to cover up the disappearances of new, helpless young eunuchs.
“Is it really something to be that regretful about?”
Woo-Moon’s voice rang coldly throughout the room.
Immediately, the Palace Maintenance Director tried to pull the rope next to him.
“AGH!!”
With a scream, his hand was severed at the wrist and fell to the ground.
At the same time, the Imperial Regalia Director struck at Woo-Moon with both palms, a brightly shining palm aura coating each hand.
‘Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms? Is he... No, it’s an imitation!’
Even though the eunuch used the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, it was very clear that he wasn’t a member of the Beggar Gang. Moreover, the qi radiating from his body when he performed the technique immediately reminded Woo-Moon of Martial Heaven’s cultivation methods.
Bang!
When Woo-Moon’s palm and the eunuch’s collided, the Imperial Regalia Director flew away, spewing blood everywhere as he slammed into the wall.
Although the crash was loud and even the wall cracked, Woo-Moon wasn’t worried. He had already formed a qi barrier around the room, and not one sound could escape.
“Y-you bastard! Don’t you know who we are?!”
They were Chief Eunuchs. Eunuchs who possessed near omnipotent authority.
Aside from the Imperial Family, they were under no one. No, there were some, even among the Imperial Family, who were too weak and under their thrall.
However, Woo-Moon didn’t care about that whatsoever.
“Of course I do. Or at least, I know you bastards are demons.”
Woo-Moon stepped on the Palace Maintenance Director’s leg and crushed it.
“AGHHHH!!!”
“It seems like you enjoy causing pain to others and watching them suffer. I have a proposition: how about you try some of that pain for yourself? See if you like it,” Woo-Moon said calmly.
He used Void Grasp to lift the Imperial Regalia Director, who was unable to move due to his severe internal injuries.
Moving him like a puppet, he made the eunuch pick up one of the torture instruments that littered the room.
Likewise, he did the same for the Palace Maintenance Director, controlling him like a puppet as well.
“Huh?”
Although the eunuch tried to fight back, his now-Third Class cultivation was simply inconsequential in front of Woo-Moon.
Even though he tried so hard that his limbs seemed on the verge of breaking, he couldn’t escape Woo-Moon’s grasp.
Under Woo-Moon’s thumb, he, too, picked up one of the torture instruments.
The massive pair of scissors in the Imperial Regalia Director’s hands slowly tightened around the torso of the Palace Maintenance Director. At the same time, the dull iron skewer in the Palace Maintenance Director’s hands slit the Imperial Regalia Director’s abdomen from bottom to top.
“Uuuuuuuuuuaghhhhh!!!!
“AGGGHHHHHHH!”
After forcing the two eunuchs to kill each other slowly, Woo-Moon created a wisp of Samadhi True Flame and incinerated the body of the young eunuch.
‘I’m sorry.’
Though he had played no role in the boy’s death, Woo-Moon still felt guilty.
The fire turned the boy to ashes, even incinerating his bones.
He then drew an empty bottle from within his sleeve and waved his hand, gathering the ashes into the bottle.
‘I’ll sprinkle your ashes into a wide and open river. Live freely even in death.’
He could never have imagined that such vile acts were happening under the noses of the famous Imperial Family.
“As expected, the imperial government isn’t a place I want to be associated with.”
Woo-Moon reaffirmed his decision and left the pavilion of the Imperial Regalia Director and made to leave his Forbidden City.
"Haah! Ah!!!!”
However, as he passed over another pavilion on his way out, he heard another suppressed moan pricking at his ears.
His gaze was chilling as he used the same method as before to infiltrate this pavilion.
‘This pavilion goes extremely deep down.’
As it turned out, the source of the sound was no fewer than ten stories underground. Woo-Moon entered a vast expanse fitted with a large bath tub, or rather a hot pool with steam rising out of it.
There were countless fist-sized Luminous Night Pearls hanging from the ceiling, shining so bright that it seemed like he was out in the open on a sunny day.
Woo-Moon once again found himself speechless.
Dozens of naked consorts were in the pool. In the middle of them, a fat naked man was thrusting heavily behind a young consort, roughly in her twenties.
Suppressed moans escaped the consort’s mouth with every movement.
“Hnng~ Chief Eunuch! You’ve spent so long on her. Give me some attention, too!”
“Chief Eunuch, me too!”
The middle-aged man, buried in the flesh of the beautiful consorts surrounding him, nonchalantly looked at Woo-Moon and asked, “Will you be joining us too, little brother?”
Woo-Moon was secretly shocked by the man’s senses.
He had thought he was completely undetectable, but yet it was clear that the middle-aged man had discovered Woo-Moon before he was even in the room.
‘So he’s a Paragon, too?’
Assuming that the man before him was also from Martial Heaven, Woo-Moon tensed up and placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.
“Ha-a-eup!!!”
After making an animal-like grunt and trembling for a moment, the middle-aged chief eunuch stood up.
‘Wait a second. If he’s a eunuch, isn’t he supposed to be missing it down there?’
Yet, it was clearly present down there in front of him. Moreover, it was quite a sizable one at that.
Seeing Woo-Moon stare at his family jewels with confusion in his eyes, the middle-aged eunuch chuckled.
“Ah, yes, this probably looks odd to you. See, I was also castrated like the rest when I entered the imperial palace. But somehow, I was able to cultivate and become a Paragon and undergo a complete metamorphosis. Thankfully, my vajra pole also grew when that happened, too. Mmm... That wasn’t really a good thing. When I was missing my little self, I was cultivating earnestly and living a disciplined life, without any desires. However, after it came back to me, I developed a taste for women and lived in lust for decades. Now, I get first pick of the prettiest new consorts whenever they come in.”
This last phrase would be enough to cause the emperor to faint of rage if he were to hear it.
The emperor had brought this eunuch in without worry, considering the latter was... well, a eunuch. Who could have expected that not only would the eunuch’s love rod grow back, but he would be so successful with the imperial consorts for decades?!
However, Woo-Moon had little loyalty toward the emperor from the get-go. Instead of being angered by the not-eunuch’s words, Woo-Moon actually felt a little cheered up.
‘Pft, you emperor bastard, you get what you deserve. You collected so many women you can’t even take care of most of them, only to be served a green hat by a eunuch.’
At the same time, he could tell that there was something different about this eunuch. Unlike the eunuchs Woo-Moon had just killed, he didn’t seem like a member of Martial Heaven at all.
Feeling a little better now, Woo-Moon asked him, “Do you know what Martial Heaven is?”
“Huh? Martial Heaven? Martial Heaven... Oh, that’s right. Yeah, I do. Are you saying those bastards are still around?”
Woo-Moon trusted his intuition. The eunuch before him wasn’t a member of Martial Heaven.
“How incredible. To think there was a Paragon not affiliated with Martial Heaven... Moreover, to think he was affiliated with the Imperial Family...”
Possibly because of their absolute trust in the middle-aged eunuch, the consorts didn’t seem to feel the slightest of fear even after Woo-Moon had caught them committing the highest of treason.
Moreover, they seemed to show absolutely no shame even though they were stark naked.
“Chief Eunuch~~!! Stop with the boring conversation and play with us.”
“Just a second, you little vixen. Haven’t I already done each of you once today? Just wait a little. I have a lot I want to say with this interesting little brother here.”
The middle-aged eunuch looked at Woo-Moon and grinned. “What’s so weird about that? Isn’t there another Paragon standing in front of me who isn’t affiliated with Martial Heaven? Moreover, the Heavenly Demons of the Heavenly Demon Cult have been Paragons for generations. People are only able to see what they already know!”
“Oh!”
The middle-aged eunuch’s words struck a chord.
People can only see what they know.
Those words were the key to helping Woo-Moon open his horizons.
‘If I hadn’t overcome the Absolute Wall, would I have been able to find this place? Could I have heard what they were doing? No. That would be too difficult.’
If it weren't for the much-improved senses and qi sensitivity that he had developed after becoming a Paragon, he would never have been able to hear the sound coming from this place.
If he hadn’t done so, he would have never known that a Paragon was hiding within the Imperial Palace.
‘There truly are an incredible number of experts in the world. Moreover, there are a lot of hidden experts, too. Naturally, it follows that there are people of this strength who stay hidden.’
Woo-Moon had crossed into the Absolute within the Heavenly Demon Mound and had become a Paragon after wandering a world of vast emptiness for two seasons.
However... it seemed there was still a long way to go.
“Little brother, the gangho is long and wide. Although there are many who want to master martial arts and make a name for themselves, there are also many who want to live quietly. There are definitely many hidden experts you and I know nothing about.”
This made perfect sense. Being able to measure the opponent's cultivation and gauge the level of their techniques was an exclusive privilege of the strong.