Unlike most buildings constructed by human hands, the Chamber of Repentance at Shaolin Temple was originally a natural cave. Its entrance was sealed with a thick iron door, and iron bars were installed inside to serve as a prison.
Hong Geolgae and Namgung Myung were lurking around the rocky area where the Chamber of Repentance was located. They had heard rumors of a second chamber, but even Hong Geolgae didn’t know its exact location.
As the two were stealthily searching for the second chamber, Dang Mujin emerged from the Chamber of Repentance after finishing his treatment.
“What brings you here?” he asked.
“Just wandering around. I don’t have much to do, and it’s not like I’ll have many chances to visit Shaolin in the future,” Namgung Myung replied nonchalantly.
“True enough,” Dang Mujin said, not suspecting anything, especially with Hong Geolgae standing right there.
Namgung Myung then asked, “How much longer do you think the treatment will take?”
Dang Mujin shook his head. “It’s going to take much longer than I thought. There are too many patients, and several have disrupted energy flows due to broken dantians. Treating the meridian disorder alone is tricky, and I have to correct the energy flow while addressing other symptoms.”
“Well, dealing with difficult patients will surely improve your skills quickly,” Namgung Myung remarked.
“The process is exhausting, though,” Dang Mujin grumbled, stretching his arms. His shoulders and back cracked audibly.
“I’m thinking of heading down to the village soon. If you’re bored, you should check it out. It’s more interesting than being stuck in Shaolin,” Dang Mujin suggested.
“We’re fine for now,” Namgung Myung replied.
“Alright then, I’m off,” Dang Mujin said casually as he left.
With no one left to watch them, Namgung Myung and Hong Geolgae resumed their search with renewed vigor. They scoured the entire rocky area but found no sign of the second chamber.
“Are we sure it even exists? Maybe we were tricked,” Namgung Myung speculated.
“No way,” Hong Geolgae replied. “What was the name of the novice monk who told you about it?”
“Why?”
“If he lied and made us go through all this trouble, he deserves a duel to the death…”
Of course, even Namgung Myung wouldn’t challenge a novice monk to such a duel. But the thought of him using it as an excuse to rough up the monk made Hong Geolgae a bit uneasy.
“Let’s keep looking. It must be hidden somewhere hard to find. Like over there… wait, is that a door?” Hong Geolgae pointed to a spot high up on the cliff.
A large rock jutted out, and beyond it, a square iron door was barely visible. It looked like a door set into the cliff, with a small landing in front of it.
“You’re right! Let’s check it out!” Namgung Myung exclaimed.
They soon reached the rock ledge. Namgung Myung climbed up with ease, while Hong Geolgae struggled a bit but managed to make it up as well. Anyone without martial arts training wouldn’t have been able to reach it.
Looking at the iron door, Hong Geolgae commented, “Doesn’t seem like anyone’s been locked in here.”
The door was rusted, and the latch was covered in thick rust, indicating it hadn’t been opened in years. Relieved that no one was inside, Hong Geolgae sighed. At least Namgung Myung wouldn’t cause trouble by meeting a demon.
But Namgung Myung clenched his fist. “We should still go in. Who knows, we might find something interesting or a martial arts manual.”
“Why would there be a manual in a chamber of repentance?”
“Well, maybe not a manual, but someone might have carved martial arts secrets into the walls before they died.”
That seemed plausible. Namgung Myung confidently removed the latch and entered the cave.
Hong Geolgae hesitated, contemplating whether to lock Namgung Myung inside to prevent any future disasters. It might be the truest form of friendship, he thought.
Before he could decide, Namgung Myung called from inside, “Aren’t you coming?”
“Yeah, I’m coming,” Hong Geolgae replied, leaving the latch as it was and entering the cave.
Unlike the main Chamber of Repentance where warriors were held, the second chamber was so narrow that two people couldn’t stand side by side, and the ceiling was low. There were no iron bars typical of a prison.
“This doesn’t seem like a prison,” Hong Geolgae noted.
“An unknown cave is more interesting than an empty prison. Check the walls for any carvings,” Namgung Myung suggested.
“Got it.”
They moved forward, hunched over. After a while, they encountered an old wooden door blocking their path.
Namgung Myung grasped the handle, muttering, “Please, let there be a martial arts manual!”
He pushed the door open, and it creaked as it gave way. But what lay beyond was unexpected.
It was a vertical cave, more like a hidden garden or vegetable patch. The diameter was over a hundred feet, surrounded by cliffs that separated the inside from the outside. There was no ceiling, so they could see the blue sky above.
The ground was covered in soft soil, with dense growths of grass, vines, and small trees. There were even signs of small-scale farming.
“What is this…?” Hong Geolgae and Namgung Myung were speechless, taking in the unexpected scenery. Then, a low voice called out from afar.
“Who are you to have come here?”
They turned to see the voice’s owner, who was sitting with his back to them. Judging by his rough, wrinkled skin, he was an extremely old man.
The old man wore only tattered pants, so worn they were practically rags. Even the poorest beggars wouldn’t wear such clothes.
He was the thinnest person Hong Geolgae had ever seen, resembling a skeleton with skin stretched over it. It reminded him of a corpse he once saw that had died of starvation.
The old man continued to fidget with his hands, not turning around.
“Can’t you hear me?” he asked.
Hong Geolgae snapped out of his daze and replied, “We were just exploring the area. Who are you, sir?”
“Who else would be in the Chamber of Repentance but a sinner?” the old man replied.
Hong Geolgae and Namgung Myung belatedly realized they were indeed in a chamber of repentance. The scenery was so different from what they expected that they had forgotten.
“Why are you here alone, separate from the other prisoners below? Are you really imprisoned here?” Hong Geolgae asked.
The old man let out a weak, deflated laugh. “My crime was exceptionally grave. No one before or after me has committed a sin like mine.”
Hong Geolgae and Namgung Myung flinched. To be isolated like this, the old man must have been not only a heinous criminal but also a formidable martial artist.
Yet, seeing his frail back and limbs, their tension eased. Regardless of his martial prowess, his physical condition was so dire that it was a wonder he was still alive.
With a body like that, even the most skilled martial artists would find him easy to subdue.
“What crime did you commit to be imprisoned here?” Hong Geolgae asked.
“I stole from Shaolin,” the old man replied.
“They wouldn’t imprison a petty thief like this… Did you get caught stealing a supreme martial arts manual?” Namgung Myung speculated.
“No. I stole things and lives. I killed dozens of monks and novice monks.”
So he was a demon, and a particularly vile one at that. Even the most wicked rarely kill novice monks.
If he hadn’t committed such a crime, they wouldn’t have locked him away and left him to rot.
Namgung Myung straightened his shoulders and said, “You seem eager to boast about your martial skills, but don’t try anything. I’ve trained in martial arts myself, and I might cut you down out of habit.”
“Martial arts? I learned quite a bit. But contrary to what you might think, I didn’t beat or cut them to death.”
“Then how?” Namgung Myung asked.
“I starved them to death,” the old man said, ending his explanation there. It was hard to imagine how he had managed to starve the monks.
Namgung Myung approached the old man, curious about what he was so busily fidgeting with.
A wooden bowl was filled with a yellowish dough, a mixture of various grains and pine pollen, kneaded with water or honey. The old man was rolling the dough into small, round pills and laying them out to dry in the sun. The number of pills was staggering.
“I’ve eaten my fair share of byeokgokdan, but this is the first time I’ve seen it being made.”
And yet, the piles of byeokgokdan weren’t the end of it.
In one corner of the cave, several large wooden boxes stood, seemingly filled to the brim with the stuff. Enough to sustain someone through decades of secluded training.
But something felt off. Byeokgokdan was known to be quite fattening. It didn’t make sense for someone making so much of it to be so gaunt.
Namgung Myung turned to the old man and asked, “With all this byeokgokdan, why are you so thin?”
“I only eat three pieces a day,” the old man replied.
“Did the monks at Shaolin stop you from eating more? If it were me, I’d sneak a bunch when no one was looking.”
The old man chuckled softly. “No, I just don’t have much of an appetite. There’s no need to eat that much.”
After using up all the dough to make the byeokgokdan, the old man pushed himself up from the ground, leaning on his knees.
Namgung Myung and Hong Geolgae found the old man quite peculiar.
He clearly had martial arts training, but it was impossible to gauge his true strength.
He seemed both weak and incredibly strong at the same time.
Yet, he didn’t appear to be an ordinary person.
The old man looked Namgung Myung straight in the eye and said, “Your skills are impressive, but your training is shallow.”
Namgung Myung crossed his arms and frowned, his posture defiant. It wasn’t the kind of comment he wanted to hear, especially from a seemingly harmless old man.
“Well, sir, your assessment might be accurate, but it’s not exactly flattering.”
“Why not?”
“Provoking someone with shallow training and little patience can lead to consequences you might not want to deal with.”
“Are you threatening to draw your sword?”
“No need for that. Tonight, while you’re asleep, I’ll hang your pants on the cliff. Just wait and see.”
The old man laughed at Namgung Myung’s subtle threat.
“Try it if you can. But the important one isn’t you—it’s the young man beside you.”
He turned to Hong Geolgae.
“You’re the opposite of your friend. Your training is deep, and your character is admirable, but you’re lacking in skill. However, with deep training, acquiring skill isn’t difficult.”
The old man hesitated, as if he wanted to say something more, then finally spoke to Hong Geolgae.
“Listen, could you bring me a good bottle of wine? In return, I’ll teach you a martial art worth knowing.”
“A worthwhile martial art?”
The old man grinned.
“Yes, a martial art that would make your friend envious. One that no one else in the world knows. What do you say?”