The Torturous Path (3)
The interrogation dragged on.
I treated him with a coldness and ruthlessness that bordered on ignorance. I knew that if I didn’t, he would never open his mouth. He was the second-in-command of the organization, a man of intelligence, ambition, and above all, a hardened soul.
He wasn’t the type to endure such treatment, had he not crossed paths with the wrong person.
Writhing in agony, he screamed as if his body were being torn apart.
“Argh! Please! Stop!”
After a grueling session, he spoke in a weakened voice.
”…I know why you’re doing this. It’s not just about the money. You want to know the whereabouts of the other leaders, don’t you?”
I admitted it without hesitation.
“It’s partly about the money, and partly about that.”
“I don’t know where the others are hiding. When the bankruptcy was declared, everyone went into hiding. How could I know their locations? Think about it. Who can trust anyone in this situation? Do I look like someone who trusts others?”
“I suppose not.”
“Exactly. It’s not just me; none of us trust each other. Even if they knew I was in this state, they wouldn’t come to help!”
“True. You can’t speak of what you don’t know.”
As I showed signs of relenting, he quickly added, “Then there’s no need for torture, is there? I’ll give you the money bit by bit. Just as much as I would after being tortured… Argh!”
I pressed harder on his pressure points.
The primary goal of the torture wasn’t to extort money. It was to break his spirit, to prevent him from thinking clearly.
Yet, he held on remarkably well. His desire for revenge against me was strong, but he also believed the organization would rescue him. Without that belief, he wouldn’t have endured so long.
He was lying.
He might not trust his colleagues, but he had faith in the organization’s leader. He believed they would save him from this predicament.
“Argh!”
I was exploiting his thirst for revenge and his faith in the organization.
But I wasn’t just tormenting him.
I gave him tonics to prevent his body from weakening and used my inner strength to stabilize him.
Of course, he cursed my kindness.
“You lunatic! I’ve never met anyone as cruel as you in my life!”
But I paid no heed to his curses and insults. To me, his words were no more than the buzzing of a fly.
“I have something I need to know from you. But I won’t go after your family. I don’t even know if you have one. Why? Because it’s irrelevant. This is between you and me. Yet, you crossed that line, trying to kill everyone’s families. That’s why your screams of pain sound like music to my ears.”
So far, I’ve recovered over two hundred thousand nyang from him.
Two hundred thousand nyang—an unimaginable sum.
How many sacrifices were made to amass such wealth?
Though anger surged within me, I didn’t show it.
“I have nothing left! No more money to give!”
The flow of money slowed.
Out of funds?
Hardly. Only the larger assets remained, the ones he couldn’t bear to part with.
Now, cough them all up!
I pressed his pressure points again.
“Argh!”
In between squeezing him dry, I dedicated myself to martial arts training.
My primary focus was the Demonic Wind Step.
Having reached the eighth level in the Demonic Art, I lacked a suitable place to train and it wasn’t a stage for easy growth.
In contrast, the Demonic Wind Step, at only the fifth level, had plenty of room for improvement.
I used the field near our hideout as a base to practice the Celestial Mind Technique.
I deliberately expanded it as wide and large as possible.
In that endless space, I trained the Demonic Wind Step to my heart’s content.
Unlike the Demonic Art, there was no risk of breaking this place. I ran and flew madly, honing the Demonic Wind Step.
Given my opponent, footwork and agility were as crucial as the Demonic Art. When both were balanced, the Demonic Art would unleash its full power.
The Heavenly Demon actively assisted in my training.
From afar, the Heavenly Demon shouted encouragement.
[Faster! More! Just a little more!]
I reached him in a flash, collapsing to the ground as soon as I arrived, having exhausted all my strength.
[Huff, huff.]
Lying on my back, I gazed at the sky. Though it was a fake sky created by the Celestial Mind Technique, it looked just like the real thing.
The Heavenly Demon, watching the incense burn beside me, remarked,
[You’ve shortened the time since last.]
[Ah!]
A pleased exclamation escaped me. The time was indeed shortening. I was training in the simplest and most effective way to master the art of speed.
The results were evident.
The Demonic Wind Step, once at the fifth level, had reached the sixth and was now racing towards the seventh.
The Heavenly Demon’s help was invaluable.
Having someone watch and encourage me was far more beneficial than training alone.
The Heavenly Demon sat beside me.
[How much money have you extracted from him?]
[About two hundred thousand nyang?]
[That’s incredible.]
He had split his assets under different names, making it easier for us to absorb them.
Had they been under his name, we would have had to drag him around to access them. But most of his wealth was under aliases or even fictitious identities.
There were contracts related to transactions, complete with precise codes and signatures. Thus, with just paperwork, we could easily transfer them to our side.
Of course, we also concealed our identities during the absorption to prevent any reverse tracking.
The Heavenly Demon sighed lightly.
[It’s no wonder I lost to you.]
[Why the sudden humility?]
[Seeing how you handle this guy, I had to acknowledge it.]
[I wasn’t this ruthless back then.]
When I fought the Heavenly Demon, it was long ago. Since then, I’ve gained much experience and insight.
If I were the same person as back then, I wouldn’t have tortured him so persistently. The very act felt like becoming one of them, something I found distasteful. I would have killed him outright.
But having spent a lifetime dealing with villains, and now facing them again in this life, my perspective has changed.
[You need to be more ruthless.]
[You should be the Heavenly Demon instead!]
[Shall I? From now on, call me the Heavenly Demon!]
[You madman!]
[Ah, I must go. It’s time to torture him again. What method shall I use today?]
[Truly insane!]
[Hahaha.]
Unable to withstand the intense torture, he finally revealed a location.
“It’s where my last remaining assets are stored.”
His last assets? Did he really think I’d believe that nonsense?
I knew it was a lie, but I pretended to believe him.
“Where is it?”
The location was here in Shaanxi. Given that many of his assets were hidden here, it was clear that Shaanxi was his base.
He chose this place to hide after the bankruptcy declaration for that reason.
“Let’s go there together.”
At that moment, I saw it—a flicker of hope and expectation on his face. He tried hard to conceal it.
Feigning ignorance, I carried him under my arm and flew to the location.
We arrived at a warehouse on the outskirts.
Rows of identical warehouses stood in line, typically rented by merchants to store their goods.
He led me to the most secluded warehouse.
I sensed the presence of hidden experts around us. But they didn’t reveal themselves.
Perhaps they thought they couldn’t match me, or maybe they had other plans. He didn’t call them out, and I pretended not to notice their presence.
The exterior was like any ordinary warehouse. But once we opened the iron latch and stepped inside, it was different. Another door blocked our way.
He manipulated a mechanism on the wall resembling an abacus.
I stood behind him.
Just as he fiddled with the abacus—
Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish!
Needles shot at me from all directions.
Now I understood why he was so eager to come alone.
It was an attack too swift to dodge, and these weren’t ordinary needles. They were coated with lethal poison and sharp enough to pierce through most protective techniques.
Unfortunately for him, my protective technique wasn’t “most.”
Thud, thud, thud.
As the needles clattered to the ground, he spoke in a panicked voice, his face a mask of shock.
“I’m sorry! It’s been so long, I must have entered the wrong code by mistake! Truly!”
Could that be true?
This intricate mechanism was designed for situations where one was forced to open the door under duress.
It was an attack meant to eliminate everyone behind the person standing at the abacus.
I nodded, responding calmly as if nothing had happened.
“That can happen.”
He must have been even more terrified by my reaction.
He manipulated the abacus again.
Clank.
This time, the door opened properly.
I followed him inside. But he couldn’t give up his attempts to kill me.
He must have thought that if he missed this chance, he’d never escape.
Swish! Swish!
As I walked down the corridor, blades suddenly shot out from the walls on either side. Just like the deadly needles from earlier, the attack was swift and powerful.
The blades were triggered if you didn’t step precisely on the designated spots. The Dark Master hadn’t mentioned this. He should have told me to follow his exact footsteps.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The flying blades shattered and fell to the ground.
Before I knew it, the Suramyeongwang Sword was in my hand. I had deflected the rapid assault with a swift swing of my blade.
The Dark Master, clearly flustered, shouted, “I’m sorry! You need to walk exactly where I walk. I’ve always come here alone, so it slipped my mind.”
His excuse was flimsy, but I offered a reassuring smile. “It’s understandable. Let’s move on.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
Yet, disappointment was etched across his face. He must have been told by the creator of this place that no master could survive it. Perhaps he had even tested it on a few real experts.
The final door required a specific technique to open, one that only the rightful person could perform by placing their palm on it and channeling their energy.
Eventually, the storeroom door swung open. What I saw inside left me genuinely impressed.
“Incredible.”
The room was filled with treasures he had collected over time.
Paintings, sculptures, jewels—an array of priceless artifacts.
It was a veritable feast of opulence.
I examined each item carefully. Having once been a leader in the martial world, I had a keen eye for valuable objects.
There wasn’t a single item worth less than tens of thousands of nyang. Most were worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions.
These were treasures beyond the reach of ordinary people. Truly, they were enough to make anyone’s eyes widen in awe.
Just to be thorough, I checked the other storage buildings.
But the other places held only ordinary items. After inspecting two or three neighboring storerooms, the Dark Master spoke up.
“Don’t waste your time. My collection is only stored in that one place.”
“I know.”
He wouldn’t have stored his treasures anywhere without security measures.
“Then why?”
Why check the others? Opening the other storerooms, I felt an inexplicable sense of unease. Not knowing what it was, I opened yet another storeroom.
Though the storerooms were identical, the contents varied.
When I opened the fifth storeroom, I finally understood the source of my unease.
I returned to the original storeroom where the treasures were kept.
“The ceiling here is lower than the others.”
Everything else was identical, but the ceiling height was different. In storerooms typically built with high ceilings, this subtle difference was hard to notice without keen observation.
I sensed the Dark Master flinch in surprise.
Leaving him below, I slowly ascended into the air. The Dark Master was visibly startled, as if I were climbing invisible stairs.
I carefully examined the ceiling.
Sure enough, there was a secret door in the center of the ceiling. It defied the usual logic of placing secret mechanisms or doors in corners.
A hidden door above the priceless treasures. The secret door opened with a soft click.
There was a small space above the ceiling.
“Damn it! Not there!”
The Dark Master’s face twisted in anguish.