Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The member of the Clear Mirror Pavilion who had guided him said,

“The building you see over there is the main building of the Martial Training Hall. If you go to the front, someone will be waiting.”

He walked away without even listening to Dokgo Jin’s reply. He, too, had been inwardly displeased with Dokgo Jin’s attitude.

But Dokgo Jin did not care in the slightest.

He calmly turned his steps toward the narrow corridor leading to the Martial Training Hall’s main building.

The surroundings were strangely quiet.

Since Dokgo Jin’s footsteps made almost no sound either, the silence was even deeper.

But at that moment.

WHOOSH!

There was neither warning nor killing intent.

All he felt was wind pressure, as if a heavy boulder were bearing down from above his head.

It was a surprise attack that would have crushed the skull of an ordinary master before he could even sense its presence.

But Dokgo Jin was utterly calm.

Without breaking the stride he had been walking in, he naturally tilted his upper body to the side, as if avoiding a puddle during a stroll.

CRASH—!

A massive Mountain-Shaking Saber embedded itself into the place where Dokgo Jin had been standing. The hard blue-stone floor was sliced like tofu, and clouds of dust rose up.

“Oh?”

A rough exclamation came from within the cloud of dust.

A bear-like man with a massive saber resting on his shoulder revealed himself. It was Son Dang, the Seventh Instructor in charge of overseeing the Martial Training Hall’s training.

“I thought it was a perfect ambush, but you dodged it?”

Son Dang lightly pulled the saber out of the ground and looked Dokgo Jin over.

It was too savage a strike to be called a joke. However, Dokgo Jin merely brushed the dust from his clothes and replied indifferently.

“If one cannot evade a dull saber stroke with no killing intent in it, one cannot be called a martial artist.”

Son Dang had not attacked with the true intent to kill Dokgo Jin. If Dokgo Jin had failed to dodge, the Mountain-Shaking Saber would have stopped right before him.

“Hahaha! I can hardly deny that.”

Son Dang laughed heartily as he approached Dokgo Jin.

He was a huge man who gave off a terrifying sense of pressure, but Dokgo Jin looked up at him without so much as blinking.

Son Dang’s smile deepened further.

“You’ve got plenty of nerve, too. I can see why Captain Yeom is trying to put you in the Iron Soul Unit. You really are something.”

“......”

“Good to meet you. I am Son Dang, the Seventh Instructor of the Martial Training Hall.”

“I am Dokgo Jin.”

“Dokgo, is it. You are indeed out of the ordinary.”

Even after hearing the name “Dokgo,” he did not bother connecting it to the Dokgo Family.

In truth, this was the usual reaction. There were not many people who thought of the Dokgo Family, which had disappeared long ago.

“Follow me. There is a place prepared for you.”

Son Dang took the lead and began walking.

***

How long had they walked?

The view suddenly opened up, and a vast training ground revealed itself.

The heat that filled the place was hotter than the summer sun.

“Hup! Hup!”

Hundreds of new martial warriors were arranged in ranks and files, holding the Horse Stance. They were not simply standing.

Heavy stones were held in both their arms, and their thighs were trembling as if they had reached their limits.

Instructors wearing ink-black martial arts uniforms moved through the gaps between those martial artists while holding short bamboo staves and pointing out flaws.

“The strength in your qi center has loosened. Focus your mind.”

Tap.

When the staff lightly struck the waist of the martial warrior whose posture had faltered, the martial warrior gritted his teeth and corrected his stance.

“Your legs should seem rooted in the earth, and your upper body should seem suspended in the air. Cast off the unruly energy from your days as wanderers. The martial arts of the Northern Heaven Alliance begin from that refined breathing.”

It was orderly training conducted in suffocating silence.

For martial artists who had freely swung their blades as they pleased, it was an ordeal even harder to endure than whipping.

Dokgo Jin quickly recognized the value of this training.

‘It looks foolish, but it is extremely efficient. As expected of the Northern Heaven Alliance.’

Seeing Dokgo Jin’s gaze, Son Dang chuckled and explained.

“It is the Foundation Building process. It means rebuilding the basics. The swordwork that martial artists recruited from outside learned on the outside may be practical, but far too much miscellaneous energy is mixed into it. We return that to a blank state and clothe them in the martial arts of our alliance.”

Son Dang gestured with his chin at the trainees pouring sweat like rain.

“Those who enter our alliance must go through that process without exception. They must stand in Horse Stance like that for at least three months before they are given the qualification to hold a sword.”

“Surely you did not bring me here to make me undergo that training too?”

“Hahaha! Of course not.”

Son Dang walked straight past the training ground.

“Forcing the basics on a master above a certain level would be an insult. The Northern Heaven Alliance respects a martial artist’s standing.”

“......”

“The place you are going to is the Dragon-Tiger Hall. It is not a place where one lays a foundation, but a place where one proves one’s skill.”

A strange gleam appeared in Dokgo Jin’s eyes.

‘The Dragon-Tiger Hall, is it.’

He already knew about it through the information Wi Geum-seong had given him.

The Dragon-Tiger Hall was known as a kind of testing ground used to determine the exact level and aptitude of a recruited master.

The details of the test were almost unknown to the outside, so they had not appeared in Wi Geum-seong’s information either.

‘It seems the Captain of the Iron Soul Unit rated me rather highly.’

Unless one was a fairly considerable master, one could not even receive the Dragon-Tiger Hall’s test. Because of that, there had even been years when the Dragon-Tiger Hall had not opened once.

That alone showed how high their expectations for Dokgo Jin were.

‘I am looking forward to this a little.’

After they passed through the training ground filled with noisy shouts and clouds of dust, a silent and cool space appeared as if by illusion.

At the end of a path paved with well-trimmed blue stone, a huge building crouched beneath the shadows of the forest.

Dragon-Tiger Hall.

The writing on the signboard hanging at the entrance overflowed with power, as if a dragon were ascending to the heavens and a tiger were roaring.

It was no ordinary building.

The black-painted pillars were thicker than trees that would take both arms to encircle, and instead of ornate painted patterns, the walls were reinforced with solid black iron.

The building itself gave off an overwhelming sense of pressure.

Son Dang stopped in front of the enormous iron door at the building’s entrance.

“The preparations to receive you should already be complete, so all you have to do is enter.”

Son Dang adjusted the Mountain-Shaking Saber on his back and continued.

“I do not know what result will come out of this, but...... I wish you martial fortune.”

He turned to leave, then paused.

“I will tell you just one thing. The Dragon-Tiger Hall is not merely a gateway that tests you.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You will know once you experience it yourself. It would be best not to think of it simply.”

“......”

Dokgo Jin walked past Son Dang and approached the iron door.

‘Dokgo Jin. I am quite looking forward to seeing what evaluation you receive in the Dragon-Tiger Hall, and what you gain from it.’

Son Dang watched Dokgo Jin’s back for a moment, then turned away without lingering and disappeared toward the Martial Training Hall.

Left alone, Dokgo Jin raised his head and looked up at the Dragon-Tiger Hall.

“......”

Looking at it from up close, the energy emanating from the building was far from ordinary.

A heavy killing intent and fighting spirit had seeped into the walls.

‘A gateway where one becomes a dragon or a tiger.’

Dokgo Jin stretched out his hand and pushed the heavy iron door.

CREEEEAK!

The spine-chilling sound of iron scraping against iron, as if it had not been oiled for a long time, broke the stillness.

Through the opened gap, a dense darkness that seemed to swallow even light appeared, and a cold chill rushed out.

Dokgo Jin slowly stepped into the darkness.

As soon as he entered, the heavy iron door behind him closed on its own.

THUD!

***

The inside of the building was submerged in pitch-black darkness.

It was perfect darkness, without even a single ray of light entering. However, Dokgo Jin did not panic in the slightest and stopped where he stood.

‘Rather than killing intent...... this is pressure.’

Something huge and heavy was holding its breath in the darkness.

FWOOOSH!

At that moment, the torches hanging along the building’s walls all flared up at once.

When the red firelight drove away the darkness, the overwhelming forms occupying the center of the rectangular space were finally revealed.

“......!”

They were not people. They were a massive wall of steel.

Thirty martial artists clad in black full-body armor stood in ranks and files with enormous shields as tall as themselves held out before them.

Their unmoving figures were like stone statues.

The moment Dokgo Jin confirmed them, the thirty martial artists slammed their shields down onto the floor as if they had made a promise beforehand.

THUD! THUD!

The entire building shook as if there had been an earthquake. It was not a simple welcome, but a show of martial force meant to seize the initiative.

A huge man walked out from among them. He wore the same black armor, but somehow, his looked more refined.

“How long has it been since the Dragon-Tiger Hall last opened...... Welcome to the First Gate.”

A thick, weighty voice echoed through the hall.

“I am Ma Dong-il, Vice-Captain of the Black Armor Unit.”

A strange gleam appeared in Dokgo Jin’s eyes.

‘The Black Armor Unit.’

It was a military unit belonging to the Black Tortoise Flag among the Five Flags of Northern Heaven, and it was called the “Shield of Northern Heaven.”

“You are Dokgo Jin, correct?”

“That is right.”

When Dokgo Jin nodded, Ma Dong-il continued speaking with an indifferent expression.

“The Dragon-Tiger Hall consists of three gates, and we are the first. Depending on your ability, it may end at the first, or you may experience all three gates.”

“......”

“The first gate is simple. Use whatever method you wish to break through this unit’s formation and ring the brass bell behind us.”

Now that he looked, there was indeed a bell the size of a child’s head hanging behind the Black Armor Unit.

“I will say this in advance, but do not overdo it. If you feel that it is impossible, you may give up at any time.”

Dokgo Jin shook his head.

“That will not happen.”

“I will acknowledge your confidence.”

Ma Dong-il slowly raised his right hand.

The members of the Black Armor Unit all adjusted their grips on their shields and took low stances.

Sharp long spears protruded through the gaps between the shields.

A sense of pressure like an impregnable fortress poured out from them.

Iron Turtle Chain Formation.

This formation, which the Black Armor Unit prided itself on, did not rely on individual martial force. Instead, the inner arts of thirty men were linked like a chain, allowing them to move like one enormous living organism.

Ma Dong-il lowered the hand he had raised.

“Begin!”

RUUUUMBLE!

Along with the command, thirty shields advanced at the same time. It was not simple walking.

The pressure felt as if an enormous lump of iron were scraping across the floor and rolling toward him, crushing Dokgo Jin’s entire body.

The narrow space began to fill with steel in an instant.

Dokgo Jin looked at the approaching wave of steel and formed a strange smile at the corner of his mouth.

‘Let’s see what level this is.’

Instead, he charged toward the Black Armor Unit.