Dark Sky Lord

On that day, the sunlight coming through the iron bars was unusually warm.

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong brought a chair to where the sunlight was shining and sat down, closing his eyes.

The time when the sunlight shines should be at most two hours.

Even then, it only shines from late autumn to early spring. When April comes and the spring weather becomes clear, the sun rises high in the sky and the sunlight doesn't reach the stone room.

Therefore, whether he had work or not, he would stop everything and expose himself to the sunlight during that time.

'There's not much time left now.'

Before he knew it, the time when the sunlight came in had decreased to half an hour.

In a few days, the sun will rise high in the sky and he won't be able to bask in the sunlight for half a year.

Thud, thud, thud...

The sound of footsteps could be heard from the underground passage when there was not even a handspan of sunlight left.

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong closed his eyes and counted the sound of footsteps.

'There are three people. Twelve, eleven, ten... Three, two, one.'

At the same time as counting one, the sound of footsteps stopped.

Clank, clank!

The sound of unlocking the iron door could be heard.

Soon, the trap screamed and pulled.

Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii......

"Little Devil, it's a guest. Open the door!"

A sharp voice, like a nightshade stuck in the throat, was heard. As the person in charge of Secret Prison, it was the voice of Yeom Sang-So, who called himself Yeom Devil (閻魔鬼).

Seventeen years ago, when he took office as the person in charge of Secret Prison, he always called himself Little Devil. It seemed to have been since he saw himself helping with torture next to his father.

Since he was young, Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong felt that the name Little Devil sounded more precious than his own name.

Well, except for his father, there was no one else who called him by his name, so maybe it was natural....

'Does Yeom Devil remember my name?'

Suddenly, a strange question came to mind.

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong slowly stood up and grabbed the latch on the inside of the iron door. The iron door was latched on both sides, as a precaution in case someone invaded.

He pulled the latch and opened the iron door.

Behind Yeom Devil stood two people.

Among them, a middle-aged man entered and said.

"When I saw you last time, you were just a little kid. You've grown up a lot."

He was a middle-aged man in his late forties, wearing a clean sky-blue hanbok. If his beard, about five inches long, hanging from his pointed chin, had been white, he would have looked exactly like a goat.

However, contrary to his appearance, an overwhelming energy emanated from his body that was beyond comprehension.

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong had seen him once about five years ago, so he knew who he was.

'What brings Nam Jo-Gyeong, the Guild Master of Bi-Hwa?'

Bi-Hwa Guild was an organization directly under the castellan that handled secretive matters of the castle and was hardly known to the outside world.

The fact that the owner of that place had come in person meant that the guest brought today was equally important.

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong turned his gaze to Nam Jo-Gyeong's side.

Standing next to him was Jang Han, a man with an expressionless face who appeared to be in his mid-thirties, and the guest leaned on his shoulder.

Just by looking at him briefly, it seemed like he was over sixty years old.

'The guest today seems to have aged a bit.'

Without saying anything, Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong stared at Nam Jo-Gyeong, and a vein popped on his forehead.

“Don't you know how to greet?”

Yeom Devil quickly opened his mouth as if trying to make an excuse.

“Little Devil doesn't speak well. Sometimes he doesn't say a word all day.”

Nam Jo-Gyeong frowned and wrinkled his nose at the pungent smell of blood that filled the room as he looked at Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong.

"It's disgusting. Finish your business quickly and leave."

Of course, Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong was expecting that response.

He stood up from his seat, pushed the chair aside, and raised his hand to point at the stone bed on one side.

Yeom Devil gestured towards Jang Han with an expressionless face.

"Lay him down there."

Jang Han laid the old man who had been on his shoulder on the stone bed and stepped back.

Finally, Nam Jo-Gyeong took out a folded paper from his pocket and got to the point.

"This man is a major criminal of our nature. From now on, you must get this man to speak and find out one thing. Can you do it?"

What's the point of bringing him here and asking if I can't trust him?

If you don't trust me, why don't you take me to the interrogation rooms in the other two places in Secret Prison?

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong just stared at Nam Jo-Gyeong without saying a word.

"I asked you."

Nam Jo-Gyeong shouted angrily at Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong.

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong's mouth opened for the first time.

"No one who came in here has kept their mouth shut.", Mu-Ryeong said.

A gloomy voice that doesn't match his young age.

Nam Jo-Gyeong frowned deeply and stared at Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong. For a moment, his eyes gleamed strangely.

'That guy, if he wasn't the son of the hunchback, he wouldn't be worth being here. Just last year, he seemed like nothing special, but his body has developed very well.'

He looked at Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong's body with a slightly surprised gaze.

His face was partially hidden by his hair, so it was hard to see. However, his body, with only outer clothing on, revealed many parts, allowing one to see even the slightest muscle movement.

'Hm, did his father systematically train his body? Huh, well, considering his body, he must pay attention to the son.'

No matter how you look at it, he's a guy who can't go out into the world. He might even die soon.

Nam Jo-Gyeong smirked sarcastically and coughed lightly.

“Hmph, we must handle things decisively. And the information we've discovered must not be shared with anyone. Do you understand?”

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong nodded once and turned his head to look at the old man on the bed.

Nam Jo-Gyeong looked at Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong with cold eyes and threw a folded paper.

“His personal information is written here. Take a look.”

Then, Nam Jo-Gyeong told Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong what he needed to find out.

Every time he spoke, his cold gaze flickered like a venomous snake's eyes.

“Your task is to obtain the interpretation of the Thousand Characters Martial Scripture from him. There is no time limit. If you fail to obtain it and die, you will be punished. Do your best.”

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong picked up the fallen paper while pretending to listen to him.

But his heart was pounding so hard that it felt like his eardrums were ringing.

'The Thousand Characters Martial Scripture?'

He first read the writing on the paper he picked up.

Name: Man-Yu Yu Baek-Ha

Age: Fifty-nine years old

Hometown: Henan Luoyang

Status: Academy Principal of White Cloud Confucian Academy in Henan Zhengzhou

Family Relations: It is said that he has one daughter from a deceased wife

Crime: Spreading false rumors and insulting Lord Castle

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong looked up after reading the part about the crime.

The crimes written on the warrant were just attached to him in order to catch him. Otherwise, there would be no reason to torture him to find out the secret of the 'Thousand Characters Martial Scripture'.

Although he lived in Room 18 in Secret Prison for sixteen years, his mind was filled with countless stories from Gangho.

Because his father told him stories every night. Stories he heard from hundreds of people.

Most of the stories his father told were about what criminals went through or common Gangho stories like legends.

But among them, there were also many secretive stories that even Gangho members didn't know.

One of those stories was about the Thousand Characters Martial Scripture.

Although it contains the character 'martial' in the title, it is not known whether it is a martial art scripture or a book that holds other secrets. That is the Thousand Characters Martial Scripture.

The original owner is said to be Tae-Baek(Great White) Mountain Man, a genius from seven hundred years ago.

It is a book he left behind in the world before entering the xian world. That book is called the Thousand Characters Martial Scripture, a name given by later generations.

But there was a reason why Gangho members desired the Thousand Characters Martial Scripture.

It was none other than that.

During that time, a grandmaster who was known as the best in the world met Tae-Baek Mountain Man while passing through Tae-Baek Mountain, and it is said that he surrendered and became his master.

The problem was that the grandmaster at that time was none other than Dan Cheon-Seung, who was known as the Martial Emperor rising to the Heaven.

Who was Dan Cheon-Seung? He was one of the Ten Martial Gods, considered to be the strongest martial artist in history!

As time passed and rumors about the Thousand Characters Martial Scripture spread after Dan Cheon-Seung's death, Gangho was taken aback.

-If you unlock the secret of the Thousand Characters Martial Scripture, you can obtain the power to rule the world!

The members of Gangho did not hesitate to shed blood in order to obtain the Thousand Characters Martial Scripture.

Until it disappeared over a hundred years ago, the Thousand Characters Martial Scripture floated through bloodshed and changed hands more than ten times.

However, among them, there was not a single person who properly deciphered its meaning.

It could even be called one of the five secret scriptures that have never been interpreted in history.

'Among the Five Secret Scriptures throughout history, only one book, the Thousand Characters Martial Scripture, has never revealed itself to the world. Did this person really unlock the secret of the Thousand Characters Martial Scripture?'

Well, we'll find out eventually. Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong put aside his doubts and silently placed the paper on one side.

The important thing was whether the person in front of me had really solved the secret or if it was just empty words, not whether it was true or not.

Thousand Characters Martial Scripture!

It carried the weight of its name.

A secret scripture that hides the power to encompass the world!

That weight was as heavy as millions of tons.

'Compared to that, hundreds of lives are nothing but scraps of paper.'

Not to mention myself......

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong's gaze, as he put down the paper, deepened like a ceilingless abyss.

At that moment, Yeom Devil shouted from behind him.

“Hey, you! Call me when the results come out!”, Yeom Devil said.

Nam Jo-Gyeong and Jang Han, with their expressionless faces, couldn't bear the foul smell inside the room and had already left.

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong nodded and walked towards the old man on the bed.

Squeak, thud!

Yeom Devil pulled the iron door tightly as if it would never open again.

Now not only Room 18 in Secret Prison but also the entrance to the underground passage leading here will be sealed. And within a radius of twenty rooms in Secret Prison, except for Yeom Devil who brings meals, no one else will be able to access it.

In order to keep a secret, there should be as few people as possible who know about it.

After the iron door closed, Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong looked up and stared at the ceiling.

His eyes trembled slightly.

'Is it time?'

A guest with a secret that could shake the world has arrived, just like four days before his father passed away.

In other words, it means that the day he can breathe freely is not far away. They will never want to share the secret of the Thousand Characters Martial Scripture.

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong fixed the old man's arms and legs with chains and shackles attached to the bed. He was completely unconscious and there was little resistance since his Danjeon was destroyed.

After that, he brought a long needle and stabbed it into the old man's chest without hesitation.

“Ugh!”

Before counting to two, the old man groaned and regained consciousness.

* * *

Yu Baek-Ha raised his blurry eyes and looked ahead.

He was surprised twice in that short moment.

The first was that there was a young boy in a place filled with a gloomy and bitter scent of blood.

And the second was that the boy was the one who woke him up with just a needle.

However, even the scholars who held the world in their hands could not have imagined that there was still a third surprise waiting for them.

He grabbed the boy by the neck and asked,

"Kid... Hey, who are you...?"

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong replied in a gloomy voice.

"The owner of this room. The one who will make you speak about the Thousand Characters Martial Scripture."

It means that he is a torturer.

Yu Baek-Ha's eyes, which were trembling, widened.

If it was true, then wasn't the boy in front of him the one who would torture him?

"Yes, you... You're going to... torture me?"

Dok-Go Mu-Ryeong simply nodded his head.

There was no need for him to open his mouth and answer.

He turned around slowly and picked up a few devices from the table, placing them on one side of the bed.

"If you want to talk, feel free to do so. Until you speak, I will torture you with one hundred and eight different methods. Keep that in mind."

He picked up a sharp tool that looked like a saw as he spoke in an indifferent tone.

Until that moment, Yu Baek-Ha had no doubts.

Could this young boy really torture him?

But before he could even count to ten, he couldn't help but have doubts about everything.