It is said that once you lose momentum, it is all over. The momentum of the burly-looking boy was completely shattered by Mok Gyeong-un's brutal display, and he could not even think of charging at him. No, it was more accurate to say that he felt fear and terror.
Mok Gyeong-un smiled at the boy and said, "If you don’t hurry, you won’t be able to find this, you know." Mok Gyeong-un dangled the blood-soaked steel bead. Seeing this, the burly boy seemed to realize his mistake for a moment and turned to run towards the valley.
However, his legs soon gave out, and he fell. After falling several more times, the boy finally managed to push himself up and enter the valley.
Splash, splash!
But he was not the only one who had turned back. About three others returned to the valley with startled faces; they too had been aiming for the first steel bead, just like the burly boy. However, they were also terrified of Mok Gyeong-un.
‘…He’s completely insane.’
‘Still, how could he…’
‘To kill and take it without a moment's hesitation just to save himself.’
Moreover, the way he killed was enough to make one’s tongue wag. The fear that they too could end up like that if they rashly attacked him was etched into their minds.
"Ha…."
There was someone who let out a gasp while watching this scene. He was the man in the demon mask, addressed as the Valley Master by the guards with red sashes. A guard next to the man in the demon mask spoke.
"…It seems we've got quite a specimen."
"Indeed."
"I believe this is the first time it has proceeded this way. That one steel bead should have been the start of a real culling."
This was not simply a matter of who could find the steel bead first. The number of steel beads being less than the number of people, and the extinguishing of the torches—all of it was calculated. The first steel bead was the signal for the culling to begin.
A fight would break out to claim that one bead, and through this, everyone would come to realize something. It was not enough to just find a steel bead. The real challenge was how to protect it and bring it to the incense burner.
But the way it began was different this time.
"By the way, his methods aside, his strength is no small thing. To tear out a throat so easily even with the Forbidden Gate Locks sealing his qi gates."
Most of the guards were astonished by Mok Gyeong-un's brutal methods and strength. But the man in the demon mask was intrigued from a different perspective.
‘To obtain the steel bead without a single drop of water on his clothes.’
It was the first time such a thing had happened since he had been in charge of Corpse Blood Valley. A case where someone obtained a steel bead without even entering the water.
Given that one person was killed as an example and a time limit was set with an incense stick, even the most cunning person was bound to jump into the valley water. Yet, that boy had stood his ground alone while everyone else rushed in.
‘He was aiming for it from the very beginning… interesting.’
Had there ever been such a clever boy throughout all the times this gate had been conducted? It was something one could not do without considerable nerve. Thinking about it this way, it seemed that even the boy's brutal methods might have been intentionally calculated.
In the meantime, Mok Gyeong-un approached the incense burner.
"Is this sufficient?"
Mok Gyeong-un showed the blood-stained steel bead to the man in the demon mask, who was sitting perched on a rock. The man in the demon mask nodded and then shouted. Then, he finally opened his mouth.
"You… what is your name?"
‘!!!’
At that question, the eyes of the surrounding guards glinted with a peculiar light. And for good reason. It was quite rare for the man in the demon mask, the Valley Master, to show interest by asking for a name at the mere first gate of Corpse Blood Valley.
Just then, Mok Gyeong-un answered.
"It is Mok Gyeong-un."
At those words, the eyes visible through the gaps in the mask narrowed.
‘Mok Gyeong-un?’
With a total of over eight hundred people, he had not precisely memorized each individual. But he remembered the name Mok Gyeong-un. It was because he had received an order to add him late.
‘…Is he one of the two from the Mok family who were brought as hostages?’
This was another surprise. He had naturally assumed the boy was from one of the notoriously infamous places among the Secret Mirror Sect, Killing Curse Valley, Ensnaring Flower Room, or other drafted groups. But to think he was from the Lotuswood Sword Manor, known as a prestigious martial family of the righteous path.
The man in the demon mask recalled what had happened just an hour before.
[What? Are you telling me to put the ones from Lotuswood Sword Manor, who were brought as hostages, into Corpse Blood Valley as well?]
[It is an order from the Lord.]
[If it is an order, I will naturally obey, but will it be alright? It is not a place that the weak-willed boys of the righteous path can endure.]
[That is not for you to worry about. Just follow the order.]
[I understand.]
He had thought it would be fine if the plan was to torment them for a while and then kill them. But seeing this changed his mind. As expected, the Lord would not have sent them without a reason.
‘So this was it. But it is unexpected.’
If he hadn't known he was from the Lotuswood Sword Manor, he would never have thought he was from a righteous sect. From the aura he exuded to everything else, he seemed closer to their side.
‘I’ll know if I keep watching.’
If he was a boy who belonged on this side, he would survive in Corpse Blood Valley, a place called hell, one way or another. The man in the demon mask, who had been staring intently at Mok Gyeong-un, took something out from his bosom.
Then, "Catch."
He flicked it at Mok Gyeong-un with his fingers.
Swish!
The object flicked by his finger flew precisely towards Mok Gyeong-un's chest. Mok Gyeong-un snatched it out of the air with one hand.
‘What is this?’
It was a thin, round silver token with the character for ‘one’ (一) engraved on it.
"That is the token for passing this gate in first place. Keep it with the steel bead you brought."
‘Gate? First place?’
Mok Gyeong-un wondered to himself as he looked at the silver token. The use of the expression 'first place' allowed him to deduce one fact.
‘A competition?’
[Listen well. The probability of surviving Corpse Blood Valley unharmed is less than ten percent.]
Based on what Occultist Jo Ui-gong had said, it seemed to be a structure of survival through competition. Already, two had died. No, if his prediction was correct, a bloody competition would begin very soon.
Splash, splash!
Mok Gyeong-un’s prediction was spot on. Someone else had found a steel bead. Since some had witnessed the first boy who found it get into trouble after foolishly cheering, this time no one did such a thing.
The moment he found it, he bolted out of the valley water. It was certainly the right choice, but, "That guy must have found one!"
"Get him!"
He stood out too much. Running out of the valley water all by himself, he naturally caught everyone's eye. More than a dozen people rushed at him at once.
"Damn it!"
He fled in a chaotic frenzy. But then, someone leaped out of the water, grabbed the boy by the neck, and broke it, just as Mok Gyeong-un had done.
Crack! Splash!
Thus, the second death occurred. After snatching the steel bead from the dead boy, he gestured a warning to the other boys who were rushing forward.
"Come, if you want to die."
The eighteen-year-old boy, who was shirtless, had a sturdy build, and his entire upper body was covered in strange patterns. The boys who recognized the patterns hesitated, unable to charge forward out of frustration.
"Damn it!"
"It's Killing Curse Valley."
Killing Curse Valley. One of the three most notorious groups under the Heaven and Earth Society. Although its members numbered only about thirty, each one was a formidable master, and it was a place that everyone found unsettling and feared due to its unique martial arts and secret techniques.
"A bunch of gutless worms."
The boy, who swept his hair back once, spoke in a disappointed tone and then strode towards the incense burner. As the boy passed by Mok Gyeong-un, he said in a whisper.
"Don't think you'll be ahead in the next gate, too."
It was a clear declaration. Mok Gyeong-un shrugged his shoulders. He had no desire to waste energy on something so pointless.
‘If he becomes a nuisance, well…’
He licked his upper lip, as if his appetite was whetted. This place seemed quite good. Unlike at the Lotuswood Sword Manor, he didn't have to be cautious about killing people.
The boy from Killing Curse Valley, unable to see Mok Gyeong-un's expression, went to the incense burner and showed the steel bead to the man in the demon mask.
"Pass!"
In the meantime, chaos erupted all over the valley. Those who found steel beads appeared one after another, and as they ran towards the incense burner, the boys who were desperate because they hadn't found one rushed in, and fights broke out. And those fights went beyond mere suppression, creating a situation of killing and being killed.
"It has begun."
At the guard's words, the man in the demon mask nodded and looked on. With two already dead, the boys no longer hesitated to harm and kill each other. The valley had truly become a scene of pandemonium.
Stab, stab, stab, stab!
"Kuhuk!"
Amid the chaos, a few stood out. A beautiful, short-haired girl with a pale face had found a sharp-edged stone somewhere and was relentlessly stabbing at those who rushed her, pushing forward. Even without using internal energy, her movements were so fast that the charging boys were helpless against her.
"I know who that girl is."
"Ensnaring Flower Room."
"You recognized her."
How could he not? That swift and efficient dagger technique that aimed only for vital points. It was the Linked Kills of the Ensnaring Flower Room.
Now called one of the three great assassin groups, the Ensnaring Flower Room was once known as one of the four great assassin groups. However, they quit the assassination business and came under the banner of the Heaven and Earth Society.
"Excellent."
If she was this good with just a sharp stone, she was worth looking forward to when the ban on internal energy was lifted. While he was thinking this, the man in the demon mask pointed at someone.
"That one must be from Secret Mirror Sect."
"Hoh?"
A sound of admiration escaped the guard's lips. A boy with a muscular, massive build was charging forward like a bull, and any boy he collided with could not withstand the impact and was sent flying. Thwack, thwack, thwack!
The Secret Mirror Sect was famous for an external art called Iron String Art, and indeed, perhaps because he had trained in external rather than internal arts, his physical strength was immense.
"Hoo, hoo."
The boy from Secret Mirror Sect, having pushed aside all the boys who rushed at him, arrived.
"Pass!"
And following him, the girl from Ensnaring Flower Room also arrived.
"Pass!"
Like them, one by one, other boys arrived before the incense burner, having fought bloody battles to claim a steel bead. Among them was a boy who had been waiting for this very moment.
This boy had actually obtained a steel bead earlier than anyone else, but he had waited for the chaos to begin, fearing he would become a target if he stepped forward when no one else had found one. The boy managed to run to the incense burner, held up the steel bead, and shouted.
"I found it!"
The boy's lips twitched in a smile. In truth, the boy had slyly taken the bead that had been embedded in the forehead of the boy killed by the man in the demon mask for raising a question before the search began.
‘Foolish oafs. To think there was such an easy way.’
It seemed foolish that no one else had noticed. Just then, the man in the demon mask shouted.
"Fail!"
"What?"
"You heard me."
What did he mean? Why hadn't he passed? He couldn't understand.
"Wh-why? I clearly found a steel bead, so why..."
Swish!
At that moment, something sharp grazed his neck. Soon, the boy's head fell to the ground.
"I'm quite sure I told you not to raise any questions."
Clang!
The guard with the red sash who had beheaded him muttered as he sheathed his blade at his waist.
Thud!
As the boy's body collapsed from the beheading, the steel bead fell from his hand and rolled across the ground. The rolling steel bead stopped in front of Mok Gyeong-un, who had passed first and was sitting near the incense burner. Seeing this, Mok Gyeong-un glanced at the steel bead he was holding and let out a smirk.
[Sixty-three] The number sixty-three was faintly engraved on Mok Gyeong-un's steel bead.
But on the decapitated boy's bead, there was nothing engraved at all. He had tried to be clever, but unfortunately, it had cost him his head. On the other hand, ‘Should I say I was lucky?’
In truth, Mok Gyeong-un had also intended to take the steel bead from the forehead of the boy who died for questioning the rules before the start. But someone else had already taken it in that brief moment, so he had changed his method. Thanks to that, he could be considered fortunate.
However, this feeling did not last long. Instead, Mok Gyeong-un licked his lips with regret at the feast unfolding before his eyes.
Sss... sss...
As casualties mounted from the bloody struggle for the steel beads, the aura of death overflowed in all directions. If his qi gates had not been sealed by the Forbidden Gate Locks, he would have performed reverse energy circulation right away.
‘Hmm.’
But was it absolutely necessary to gather this energy through circulation? On the off chance it might work, Mok Gyeong-un slightly extended his arm into the empty air in the direction the death energy was flowing from and recited an incantation in his mind.
'mujeolmangnyeoseo.......ihyeongwisimyang......'
It was the Binding technique.