Chapter 26: Thousand-Day Pass (4)

It had been about a month since I applied for admission to the Thousand-Day Pass.

There had been a few minor hiccups, but the application had gone through smoothly, and it was finally decided that I would enter the Thousand-Day Pass as part of this year’s second cohort.

“Heuheuheung! Young Master, must you really go?!”

“How long has it been since the decision was made, and you’re still whining?”

“Well, that’s because you and I are like one body!”

“Cut the creepy nonsense. Just do what I told you. We’ll still have plenty of chances to see each other inside.”

“But still—!”

I smacked Gu Chil on the head as he clung to me in tears, throwing a tantrum about not wanting to part, and stepped through the entrance of the Thousand-Day Pass with the other new recruits.

‘I’d heard, but this really is a damn remote place.’

Strictly speaking, the Thousand-Day Pass wasn’t even within the domain of the Ten Thousand Mountains.

It was located in a chunk of land cleverly hidden among massive peaks, and even that was concealed by a formation. You couldn’t enter the Thousand-Day Pass by ordinary means.

I looked around at the other recruits who were passing through the entrance one by one.

‘Hmm, I don’t know about their skill levels, but none of their eyes look bad.’

Even if it was considered a step down from the Demon Dragon Hall, the Thousand-Day Pass was still an official training institution of the Cult.

Without at least a letter of recommendation, an ordinary believer wouldn’t even be allowed to step foot in here.

Each of them must have entered carrying someone’s expectations, someone’s envy, or a sense of duty on their shoulders.

‘It’d be nice if one or two of them stood out.’

I wandered forward toward the place where the entrance ceremony was to be held.

***

“Welcome to the Thousand-Day Pass, all of you.”

Over a hundred new recruits and just as many instructors were gathered.

At the seat of highest honor in the assembly stood the Pavilion Master of the Thousand-Day Pass, wearing a mask, gazing down at us with authority.

‘Mist Prison Wolf, Jo Jin-sang! One of the less than twenty Supreme Masters in the Cult, huh?’

Back when I served as Inner Administrator, he’d already been long retired and supposedly buried in the ground from old age.

“Hehehe, your eyes all look sharp. Very good.”

Facing over a hundred people, the Pavilion Master let out a sinister chuckle.

‘…What the hell?’

A manner far too casual for someone said to be a top-level expert representing the Cult.

Most of the new recruits were thinking the same thing—

“Listen up, you brats.”

Fwack!

In an instant, the atmosphere flipped one-hundred-eighty degrees.

Zzt! Zzt!

A terrifying bloodlust and fighting spirit radiated from the Pavilion Master, instantly gripping all the recruits.

‘That’s some overwhelming killing intent!’

If I were just a little weaker, I would’ve frozen up like a wooden doll, completely paralyzed.

“All of you must have entered the Thousand-Day Pass with some kind of ambition in mind.”

Naturally.

Otherwise, no one would willingly step into a place with such a low graduation rate.

“But understand this—while the Thousand-Day Pass is a training ground, it is also a place where the Cult’s iron law of the strong devouring the weak is applied more brutally than anywhere else.”

Clack!

As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of individuals in black uniforms lined up below the Pavilion Master in neat formation.

“Your seniors. Some are just one cohort ahead of you, others up to four.”

There were about fifty of them.

The Pavilion Master asked in a slightly amused tone.

“They only joined at most a year before you. Do you notice any differences?”

Differences?

My sharpened senses swept over the seniors.

And without realizing it, I murmured the answer aloud.

“Scars.”

And one more.

“Their eyes.”

“Ohooo?”

The Pavilion Master’s eyes gleamed with interest as he turned toward me, having caught my quiet remark.

“Correct. I don’t know where you’re from, but you’ve got quite the sharp eye.”

Apparently, he didn’t know I was Jin Yeomyung, and he nodded with approval.

“Indeed. It’s only been half a year to a year, but these ones have already faced life-and-death combat more than twice.”

Those battles hadn’t taken place within the Thousand-Day Pass, but out in the wider world of Murim.

“And they survived, achieving great progress.”

As if to say—this is your future.

“Based on their accomplishments, some of them are already guaranteed to enter the Seventeen Halls.”

“…!”

The Seventeen Halls referred to the core organizations of the Cult that handled both internal and external affairs.

In other words, if the ones in front of us survived to the end, they could aim even higher.

“Survive. If you manage to survive to the end, no matter what, you will obtain what you desire.”

With that, the Pavilion Master turned and disappeared.

The entrance ceremony had ended simply with just a few words.

I looked at the senior cohort trailing after the Pavilion Master.

‘They do seem like people who’ve shed their skin by walking through the jaws of death.’

But even that wasn’t nearly enough to cross the threshold of the Six Great Demonic Clans.

‘Isn’t there anyone who gives off a more impressive vibe?’

As I scanned the seniors one by one—

‘Huh?’

Among them was one especially huge figure, towering over the rest.

And that face—looked oddly familiar.

‘That guy… No way!’

In a group where the average age hovered around the early twenties, there was one with clearly older features, possibly even in his thirties.

And that beard—he looked just like a mountain bandit, like something out of a story.

He seemed a bit younger than I remembered, but the overall impression was unmistakable!

‘Captain San Dojeon! Why is he here?!’

One of the Four Demon Squads stationed in the Cult’s outer regions.

Commander of the Wind Demon Unit—Bloodless Thunderstorm, the Slaughter Blade, San Dojeon!

‘So San Dojeon was at the Thousand-Day Pass during this period!’

I had known that San Dojeon had trained here, but I hadn’t known exactly when.

‘This is huge!’

There was no doubt about San Dojeon’s talent.

He wasn’t from the Demon Dragon Hall but from the Thousand-Day Pass, and still shattered its limits to rise all the way to command one of the Cult’s elite units—the Wind Demon Unit.

Even though the Thousand-Day Pass provided faster real-combat experience, it couldn’t match the innate advantages of Demon Dragon Hall disciples.

But San Dojeon was one of the rare few who broke through that ceiling and became a unit commander.

In other words, he was like a guaranteed winning lottery ticket!

My eyes burned intensely as I stared at San Dojeon.

‘Forget the rest—you, at the very least, I’m taking you back with me!’

Shiver!

Unaware that one of the new recruits was gazing at him with such greedy eyes, San Dojeon suddenly shuddered at the cold chill that crept over him.

“Is it a sudden cold?”

***

And so, the entrance ceremony for the Thousand-Day Pass ended.

While the others were being assigned dormitories, I was naturally summoned to stand before the Pavilion Master.

“Oh? So you’re Jin Yeomyung?”

“I greet the Pavilion Master.”

The Pavilion Master looked somewhat surprised to realize that the kid he’d praised earlier was me.

“I figured you had a decent eye, but I never imagined you were that Jin Yeomyung.”

He gave an awkward smile, muttering something like, “Well, I suppose the Jin Clan always did have big frames…”

“So, what do you think of the Thousand-Day Pass so far?”

“It’s majestic. Like a fortress built within a natural stronghold.”

The Thousand-Day Pass was situated far from the core region of the Heavenly Demon Cult—over several hundred li away from the Eight Great Demonic Peaks, considered the very heart of the Cult.

Geographically, it lay at the northernmost edge of Gansu Province, hidden deep near the borders of Xinjiang and Outer Mongolia.

“That’s right. This place is meant to raise the core talent of the Cult, so its security rivals that of the Five Great Strongholds.”

The Pavilion Master’s gaze sharpened.

“Because of that, there are no exceptions here. Once admitted, every disciple faces one of three outcomes. Either you complete all thousand days… or you’re expelled as a dropout.”

He paused briefly, then smirked.

“Or you leave in a coffin.”

I fully understood what the Pavilion Master was saying.

“I have no intention of asking for any special treatment in training.”

“Really? Your father will be quite disappointed.”

“He was… fairly angry, yes.”

I shrugged.

Even I hadn’t expected Jin Gun-ak to go as far as offering me a seat in the Demon Dragon Hall to get me special privileges.

I’d thought, at most, he’d write a letter or two on my behalf.

And even more unexpected was that the Pavilion Master here had flatly rejected that offer.

“You don’t need to worry too much about my father. As long as I stay quiet, he won’t have a valid excuse to make a move.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, Pavilion Master. I’ll make sure I don’t bring you any trouble.”

The Pavilion Master narrowed his eyes slightly, surprised by my response.

“You’re more polite than I expected. That second son of the Ma Clan was downright arrogant.”

“I don’t have the guts to disrespect the great Iron-Blooded Demonic Warlord.”

Though his official title was Mist Prison Wolf, the Pavilion Master preferred the nickname “Iron-Blooded Demonic Warlord,” which had been coined by the orthodox sects.

That single line of flattery made the corner of his mouth twitch.

“You’re an amusing one. I like your way with words.”

Then came a question that caught me off guard.

“Is there anything you want?”

“…!”

“Obviously, you can’t leave the Thousand-Day Pass without permission. But within that boundary, I can grant you certain privileges.”

I grinned.

I wasn’t foolish enough to turn down an offer like that.

“If you’re offering, I won’t refuse. However—”

“However?”

“There’s one exception I’d like you to allow. Regarding the Exchange Ceremony. That event is directly related to the Cheon Clan.”

“Hmm!”

The Pavilion Master let out a low grunt.

Even he couldn’t interfere with events tied to the Cheon Clan. Doing so would amount to treason.

“That… can’t be helped. So, aside from that?”

There could only be one reason he kept probing like this.

The true purpose behind my coming here.

I decided to lay it out clearly.

“Please grant me access to the Main Flow.”

“…Heh!”

“I want to experience firsthand the greatness of the Main Flow—created by the First Heavenly Demon himself to train his closest retainers.”

The Pavilion Master’s eyes grew cold.

“You’re bold. Do you even understand how dangerous that is?”

“Of course.”

He held up a finger in front of my face.

“Right now, the graduation rate at the Thousand-Day Pass is about twenty percent. The death rate is also around twenty. The remaining sixty percent are expelled for not meeting the standards.”

“……”

“But up until about a hundred and twenty years ago, back when the Main Flow curriculum was in place, the graduation rate was a mere five percent. Do you know the death rate?”

I nodded without hesitation.

“Yes, I do. The remaining ninety-five percent—all of them. My family’s intelligence network confirmed it.”

Back then, expulsion didn’t even exist in the Thousand-Day Pass.

You either survived to the end and graduated… or left as a corpse.

“And knowing that, you still want to challenge it?”

“Yes. I must grow stronger. The Main Flow is just one of the means to achieve that.”

“…Is your goal to become Patriarch of the Jin Clan?”

It was a blunt question, but I shook my head.

Now was not the time to be vague and invite misunderstanding.

“No, it’s not that. I simply have a personal objective.”

“Hmm!”

The Pavilion Master stared at me for a long moment before letting out a soft laugh.

“Whatever it is, you seem quite desperate.”

I gave a bitter smile in return.

‘Well, my life is on the line, after all.’

If I wanted to survive the upcoming Exchange Ceremony with the Young Cult Leader, I had no choice but to get stronger.

Sounds like a joke? It’s not.

At least when it came to martial arts, Cheon Yura—the Young Cult Leader—was not someone who believed in mercy or compromise.

‘If she feels even slightly annoyed, she might just start hurling Qi Projections. There’s no way she’s going to go easy on me.’

If I didn’t want to drop dead, I had to get as strong as possible.

‘Though honestly, that’s only part of the reason.’

I had caught the scent of the Heaven-Defying Society much earlier than expected.

And to think, even just catching their tail had already drawn out an Absolute Master.

In a situation where anything could happen, I’d realized all too well—I desperately needed more power.

The Pavilion Master slowly nodded.

“Fine. If you insist on challenging it, I won’t stop you.”

“Thank you—”

“But.”

He cut me off sharply.

“You’re not doing it alone.”

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