Chapter 10

I slowly walked along the passageway of the stone cave.

The interior was well-ventilated, and it wasn’t dark inside due to light entering from various points in the upper part of the cave. Judging from the intricate design and craftsmanship, it was clear that this place was made by a very skilled artisan.

As I slowly walked along the cave, I felt a subtle ripple in the surroundings when I passed a certain point.

Whoosh.

I could tell instantly. A top-tier formation that only experts with keen senses could notice had been activated.

Thinking about it, it made sense. Why couldn’t those who died here escape? If the barrier was difficult, they could just give up and come out. They died because they couldn’t escape this formation. While they could easily walk in, if they couldn’t break through the barrier, the formation would turn into a hellish trap they could never escape from.

How long had I walked like that?

A fairly large plaza appeared.

At the entrance of that plaza, there was a stone tablet explaining the first barrier.

1. Cut down all enemies without using sword energy or sword aura.
2. If you fail to succeed within the time limit, another chance will be given after ten days.
3. Those who are ready, stand in the red circle.

‘After ten days? What about food until then?’

Looking around, there was a jar full of fasting pills on the wall.

‘If I eat these tasteless things for ten days, I’ll go mad.’

Without hesitation, I stood in the center of the red circle drawn in the middle of the plaza.

After a moment, with a clanking sound, dozens of human-shaped wooden dolls sprang up from the floor all around. The parts to be cut were painted red. Some dolls had their necks marked, some their arms, and others their legs.

My body reacted reflexively.

The moment they rose, I launched my body, instinctively deciding which move to use and what to cut first.

Swish. Swish. Swish.

The wooden dolls were cut down.

The dolls weren’t fixed in one place. The plates on the floor began to move and change their positions.

In that chaotic situation, some dolls started to descend back down.

‘No!’

I could tell. If I missed those dolls going down, they would never come up again, and at that moment, the challenge would fail.

So I cut the descending dolls first.

Indeed, the other dolls moved quickly, interfering with my path as I tried to cut them.

I leaped over them while swinging my sword.

Slash!

The doll I almost missed was cut down.

The dolls’ movements became faster as time went on. At first, I thought this barrier was testing footwork, but that wasn’t it. This barrier was testing judgment.

What to cut first?

Quick and accurate judgment comes first, then footwork.

The barrier was complex and difficult, but not so intricate as to surpass my instincts and skills.

I cut down all the dolls like that and safely passed the first barrier.

One thing was certain. If it had been my skill level before regression, I would never have passed this first barrier. Even if I had jumped, rolled, and flown about wildly, I would have failed.

I could understand why the test resumed after ten days.

Many challengers must have failed this first attempt, and it would take at least ten days of careful study and practice to succeed.

Even then, only those who accurately remembered how the dolls moved and which dolls went down to the floor when could devise a strategy. Dull-witted challengers probably had to attempt repeatedly many times.

Seeing the first barrier, I can understand why the average breakthrough time for the Small Heaven Cave is three years.

Rumble.

As soon as I passed the first barrier, the stone door leading to the second barrier opened simultaneously.

I slowly moved towards the second barrier. At that moment, before leaving the first barrier, I discovered writing engraved on the wall. On the wall near the exit, there were messages left by those who had come before.

—Succeeded on the ninth try. Hahaha.

—I took sixteen attempts.

—This is madness!

—Finally succeeded after thirty-seven attempts. Tears blur my vision after this long struggle.

—Will I die here? I just can’t solve it. I resent my father.

—Damn! I tried to go back, but there was no way back.

—Success on the sixth attempt, I dare say it’s the best.

Among them, at the very bottom, I saw a familiar handwriting.

—Idiots.

It was Father, who must have passed this barrier before me.

“Hahaha.”

I couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Father must have passed it on his first try.

Even so, strictly speaking, these are our ancestors, but you boldly start with insults, Father.

“Father, I passed on my first try too! Hahaha!”

I moved on like that and arrived at the space with the second barrier.

There was another stone tablet standing unfailingly in the second plaza.

1. Use the sword hanging on the wall to bisect the stone within one quarter-hour. You may use sword energy or sword aura.
2. If you fail to succeed within the time limit, another chance will be given after twenty days.
3. Those who are ready, stand in the red circle.

This time, the retry period is twenty days later.

Simply calculated, it means it’s twice as difficult as the first barrier.

‘Endure twenty days on fasting pills? I’d rather die.’

I stood in the red circle in the center of the plaza, determined to succeed.

Clank.

A stone table rose from the floor. On the stone table was an iron ball about the size of an adult’s head.

‘So I have to cut this iron ball.’

The given time is one quarter-hour.

It’s too long a time to cut just one iron ball. Thinking there must be a reason, I slowly examined the iron ball.

The smooth surface indicated that it wasn’t ordinary iron but an artificially created stone.

Of course, it must be stronger than cast iron, right? When I tried to lift it, it was so heavy that it couldn’t be lifted without using inner force.

On the wall hung hundreds of swords to be used for the test. There were various types. There were long swords, short daggers. There were heavy swords and light swords. There were even soft swords worn at the waist. There were all kinds of swords.

The meaning was clear: it’s not an easy challenge, so choose well and try multiple times.

I slowly walked over and took out one sword hanging on the wall. It was a well-made ordinary iron sword.

I stood in front of the sphere, composed myself, and then struck down forcefully with the sword.

Clang! With a crisp sound, the sword broke and flew off. The sphere, on the other hand, didn’t even have a scratch. It really was a strong metal.

I examined the sphere again. To the eye, it was just an ordinary iron ball.

I brought another sword and this time swung it horizontally.

Again, only the sword broke, while the sphere remained intact.

“As expected, it doesn’t work just like that.”

I brought a new sword and infused it with inner force.

Wooong.

Immediately, a blue light flickered from the sword. I had raised sword aura.

At this age before regression, I could use sword energy but couldn’t raise sword aura. I only grasped the mysteries of sword aura in my thirties.

“This is my first sword aura since regressing.”

The color of sword aura differs for each martial artist, and even if they learned the same mind technique, the color varied slightly from person to person. I always found this fascinating.

I like the color emanating from my sword aura. This pleasant blue that sometimes looks like the sea, sometimes like the sky.

Just as I was about to slowly cut the sphere with sword aura.

I quickly withdrew my inner force due to a sudden sense of unease. The sword aura lingering on the sword disappeared.

‘This is too easy, isn’t it?’

At first glance, I thought it was a test to see if challengers could use sword aura since it couldn’t be cut with an iron sword. It seemed difficult with sword energy. So I thought it was a test that you couldn’t escape until you awakened sword aura.

But if it were a late-stage expert who could use sword aura, they would just cut through it easily and pass.

Is it such a simple barrier?

Conversely, for someone who can’t raise sword aura, reaching the level where they can raise it is an extremely difficult task.

One side is too easy, the other side is too difficult. Something didn’t balance out.

So, just in case, I went to look at the writings left by seniors on the wall.

—Bisected it in a day using sword aura.

—Tried eighty-nine times to cut it without using sword aura, all failed, and finally cut it with sword aura.

—I cut it without using sword aura.

—How on earth? I can’t believe it.

—Damn! My sword energy won’t cut it. I can’t emit sword aura, what should I do?

—Two hundredth day of researching sword aura. I feel like vomiting just smelling the fasting pills.

—That claim above about cutting it without using sword aura is a lie.

—I add my vote to it being a lie.

What I wanted to see was the writing left by Father.

As expected, Father’s writing was left at the end.

—What bullshit.

Hahaha. Calling the ancestors’ efforts bullshit? This person must have a hard time pretending to be solemn.

But this time, he added one more line next to it.

—Getting heated means losing.

‘Getting heated means losing? Why did he add such a comment? If it were Father, he would have just cursed once like in the first barrier.’

Getting heated? Getting heated? Could it be?

I quickly went back to the first stone tablet.

1. Bisect the stone within one quarter-hour. You may use sword energy or sword aura.

The phrase that caught my eye.

You may use sword energy or sword aura?

It’s ‘may use’, not ‘use’. In other words, doesn’t it mean to use them only if you can’t cut it otherwise?

Thinking about it, the given time is too long. In one quarter-hour, you could cut hundreds of such stones and still have time left. Finally, the number of swords hanging on the wall is excessively many.

‘Ah! This barrier must be cut without using sword energy or sword aura.’

Father’s words about getting heated meaning losing were some kind of warning not to use sword aura. Because when you raise sword aura, heat comes from the sword.

There’s a fact that supports this guess.

Doesn’t the retry period of twenty days mean it’s more tricky than the first barrier?

This has to be cut just as it is.

‘Thank you, Father.’

Anyway, if I shouldn’t use sword aura, there’s no time to waste like this.

I went back in front of the sphere.

Now that I thought I must cut it without using sword aura, the sphere looked different.

‘How on earth can I cut this? Vertically? Horizontally? Diagonally? Or with swift sword? Heavy sword?’

I tried various methods with the prepared swords. But only the poor swords broke, while the sphere remained uncut.

After failing over thirty times, I sat down leaning against the wall, half giving up.

‘There must be a way.’

The cruel time kept flowing, and now less than a quarter-hour remained.

‘Do I have to try again after twenty days?’

I was in a state of half despair.

‘Should I just cut it with sword aura and pass?’

But Father had deliberately left a message, so I couldn’t choose the easy way.

‘It’s difficult, so difficult.’

As I sat there in despair, I unconsciously emitted qi. It was the qi emission practice I learned from Father in the mountains.

A strand of energy stretching out from my body touched the sphere.

‘I wish you were a wild boar. Then you’d be cut in one stroke.’

The energy wrapped around the sphere, slowly feeling its surface.

Suddenly, my eyes flew open.

“Huh?”

There was a fine line on the surface of the sphere. A line that couldn’t be felt by looking or touching with hands.

I concentrated all my mind to feel it. My energy began to wrap around it like a bird incubating an egg, trying to become one with the sphere.

The line continued along the sphere and then met again at the starting point.

I stood up and slowly approached it. My energy was still connecting me and the sphere.

With my eyes closed, feeling the sphere only through energy, I struck down the sword precisely towards that line.

Swish.

I didn’t strike down hard. I focused on hitting the line on the sphere with pinpoint accuracy, without the slightest deviation.

The next moment, something amazing happened.

Crack.

The sphere split in half. That line was a kind of vital point that could precisely divide the sphere.

And an even more surprising thing was waiting for me.

Roll.

From the empty space of the cut sphere, a single pill rolled out.