Chapter 164

Is that so? Come to think of it, weren't the evil sect leaders in the Hall of Repentance unable to escape because they were confined in separate cave chambers? So there might be an escape route somewhere inside for innocent people who were unjustly imprisoned like now. Intrigued, Cheong-ra quickly followed Dang Ran-yeong. Glancing at Cheong-ra following behind him, Dang Ran-yeong said,

"In the end, even treatment with Buddhist power was useless."

"What do you mean? I'm completely in my right mind now."

Cheong-ra wondered, holding the night pearl he had received from Dang Ran-yeong to light the way. But he stiffened at the next words.

"You're still reciting that formula."

The other's gaze on Cheong-ra was so intense that it seemed to pierce right through his heart.

"...That's."

Cheong-ra couldn't easily deny Dang Ran-yeong's words.

Thanks to Yeo-cheon's Buddhist power, he had completely escaped the influence of the sound technique. However, he couldn't stop reciting the formula. He thought he had recited it very secretly, but Dang Ran-yeong had keenly noticed. Cheong-ra's face flushed red with shame. Meanwhile, Nam Gang-ryong also hurriedly followed them.

"Young Master Dang, it's useless. This is Shaolin's Hall of Repentance. It's a place no one can escape from, so there's no way there's an escape route."

"There might not be. But doesn't this place look perfect for hiding something? Everywhere you look, it seems like a secret cave for hiding elixirs or weapons."

"...What? A secret cave?"

Nam Gang-ryong replied in a dumbfounded voice. Cheong-ra, who had been feeling embarrassed alone, also stared at Dang Ran-yeong, wondering what he was talking about. How could he think like an evil sect member in this situation of being trapped in the Hall of Repentance...

"A place that's hard to enter and impossible to leave is perfect for hiding something. Besides, when else would we have the chance to search the Hall of Repentance so openly?"

...Cheong-ra wondered if it was alright to speak like this in front of a Shaolin monk, even if he was defrocked. Sure enough, Nam Gang-ryong clenched his fists tightly as if suppressing a heart demon and muttered,

"Namu Amitabha Gwan-se-eum Bosal..."

Nevertheless, hoping for a secret escape route, Nam Gang-ryong also joined the search. The passages of the Hall of Repentance had a complex structure like an ant colony, and the air became cooler as they went deeper inside. After some time, Cheong-ra felt it was getting a bit chilly.

After walking for a long time, they suddenly reached a dead end. They had arrived at the end of the cave. Seeing the dead end, Nam Gang-ryong scolded Dang Ran-yeong,

"You see, Young Master Dang. Didn't this humble monk tell you repeatedly that there couldn't be anything hidden in the Hall of Repentance?"

However, Dang Ran-yeong ignored Nam Gang-ryong's nagging and carefully felt the cave wall. He detached one of the accessories he was wearing and unhesitatingly scratched the wall, causing Cheong-ra's mouth to gape open. Even if jade was hard, wasn't he treating it too carelessly?

"The stone is quite soft."

"The stone inside the cave is softer, but not soft enough to dig through and escape."

"That might be true for evil sect leaders whose dantians have been sealed and limb meridians cut, making them cripples in terms of inner energy."

As Dang Ran-yeong said, there was nothing preventing them from digging if they wanted to. However, escaping that way would clearly take a very long time. It would be enough time for irreversible damage to be done to Shaolin.

"And I'm not suggesting we dig our way out. Listen carefully. I can hear water flowing on the other side."

Water sound? At Dang Ran-yeong's words, Cheong-ra pressed his ear against the wall and indeed could faintly hear water flowing on the other side. He had always known Dang Ran-yeong's senses were very keen, but it was surprising that he could detect such a faint water sound immediately. Nam Gang-ryong also pressed his ear to the wall and nodded, saying,

"That means there must be an empty space on the other side."

"Yes. And this... doesn't it look like footprints?"

Dang Ran-yeong tilted his head down. Only after bringing the night pearl close did Cheong-ra and Nam Gang-ryong realize there were indeed faint footprints and marveled. Footprints engraved on stone floor, not dirt, were undoubtedly artificial traces.

"Let this humble monk stand there for a moment."

Nam Gang-ryong almost pushed Dang Ran-yeong aside. He carefully placed his feet on the footprints and stood there, lost in thought for a moment before exclaiming,

"This is...! Undoubtedly the foot position of the first form of the Diamond Fist!"

The Diamond Fist was a martial art that all monks who had received full precepts at Shaolin Temple learned as a basic. The defrocked monk, unusually excited, soon composed himself. Standing in the footprint pattern, Nam Gang-ryong naturally took the first stance of the Diamond Fist. After a moment, he began to perform the Diamond Fist skillfully.

Dust rose wherever Nam Gang-ryong's solid fingertips struck. His strikes were so powerful that the soft rock made thudding sounds. After performing the entire Diamond Fist sequence and waiting for a moment, the blocked wall at the end of the cave vibrated slightly, then slowly retreated, creating a gap large enough for one person to pass through.

"Young Master Dang! Monk Gang-ryong! Did you see? It's a secret passage!"

"This can't be... I see it too, Devotee Baek! To think there was such a secret passage in the Hall of Repentance!"

Nam Gang-ryong's mouth fell open, and Cheong-ra's eyes shone as he kept exclaiming in admiration. Dang Ran-yeong, who had been quietly watching, smirked.

Nam Gang-ryong, having discovered the secret of the Hall of Repentance, carefully passed through the gap. Cheong-ra followed behind with a pounding heart. Beyond it, another long corridor stretched out, and just as Dang Ran-yeong had said, there was a spring with water trickling down nearby. It seemed to be the water source supplying water to various parts of the Hall of Repentance.

"The evil sect leaders in the Hall of Repentance, being cripples, would find it difficult to hear such faint water sounds or discover footprints without a night pearl, and even if they did, they wouldn't know what it meant. This must surely be a provision for devout monks who might accidentally get trapped here."

Nam Gang-ryong asserted confidently, completely forgetting that he had just claimed there couldn't be anything hidden in the Hall of Repentance. They walked, hoping there would be an exit at the end of this path.

After walking for some time, the long corridor ended, and a fairly large cave chamber appeared. In the dim chamber, there was a large Buddha statue carved from rock. Cheong-ra marveled at the Buddha's compassionate smile as he illuminated the statue with the night pearl. Nam Gang-ryong seemed not just amazed but deeply moved, while Dang Ran-yeong showed no particular reaction and looked around first.

"Monk Gang-ryong, don't you think there might be an exit here?"

"I will search thoroughly."

The three of them searched the surroundings meticulously, but even after wandering around for a long time, they couldn't find any particular clues. The most suspicious thing was only the cushion in front of the Buddha, which seemed to have been carved from stone for meditation. Nam Gang-ryong, who had been certain there was an exit, was greatly disappointed.

"We need to find a way out quickly..."

The excitement of finding a secret passage was short-lived as Nam Gang-ryong muttered anxiously. Dang Ran-yeong had been glaring at the compassionately smiling Buddha without saying a word for a while. Cheong-ra was lost in thought. What was the Shaolin monk who built the Hall of Repentance long ago thinking when he created this secret space?

"Monk Gang-ryong, if you were trapped here alone and came to this place, what would you do?"

Cheong-ra asked Nam Gang-ryong, thinking there must be a method that only a devout monk would know. After pondering for a moment, Nam Gang-ryong sat in meditation posture on the stone cushion.

"If I were alone, I would probably meditate, seeking the Buddha's compassion."

Since there was nothing else they could do right now anyway, Nam Gang-ryong decided to meditate. As he regulated his breathing and closed his eyes, Cheong-ra approached Dang Ran-yeong.

"Young Master Dang, why have you been glaring at the Buddha statue?"

"I was wondering if the white curl between the Buddha's eyebrows isn't usually in relief."

Hearing Dang Ran-yeong's words and focusing his eyes to look closely, Cheong-ra saw that indeed, the area where the white curl should be between the eyebrows was not in relief but indented. Usually, that spot is expressed as a round protrusion or inlaid with a jewel. But for some reason, the forehead of the Buddha statue in this long-abandoned cave chamber was deeply indented.

"Maybe we need to put something in there."

Cheong-ra looked around once more. But if there had been something like a bead rolling around, they would have noticed it when they searched earlier. Dang Ran-yeong spoke to Cheong-ra, who was carefully examining behind the Buddha statue,

"There is a bead."

"There was a bead? Where?"

"That night pearl."

"...Huh?"

Cheong-ra looked at the night pearl he was holding. Come to think of it, the size of the night pearl did seem like it would fit perfectly into the Buddha's forehead. He rubbed his chin and muttered,

"This is the night pearl that Monk Won-jung said he always carries when entering the Hall of Repentance..."

What if this wasn't just a tool to light the surroundings, but some kind of rule of the Hall of Repentance passed down from ancient times? Thinking this, Cheong-ra felt a strong urge to insert this night pearl into the Buddha's forehead. However, not knowing what might happen when the night pearl was inserted, he decided to wait for Nam Gang-ryong to finish his meditation first.

Cheong-ra crossed his arms like Dang Ran-yeong and leaned against the wall beside him, saying,

"But Young Master Dang would never have gotten out of here. You'd never do something like meditating in front of a Buddha statue. Just like how the evil sect leaders wouldn't be able to escape even if they reached this point."

"Is that so? But if I were trapped here with Beauty, it wouldn't be so bad. It wouldn't be boring for a year or even ten years."

"...How much do you intend to torment me?"

Cheong-ra passed the idle time exchanging such conversation with Dang Ran-yeong.