Min-Ho continued walking, the guards from earlier surrounding him on both sides.
Looking around he quickly noticed how poor the sect was. The training ground that should have been paved with stones was nothing but bare dirt.
The only thing that looked well-maintained was the palace itself.
He also realized he was not in the ground but in the peak of a tall and huge mountain that clouds are merely on top of them.
He hadn't even had enough time to put his clothes back on earlier. He was practically naked.
Because they are almost at the very top it made him a really cold having nothing to wear.
He thinks for a moment not having much information in this world he decided to ask the guards while walking.
"Can I ask where I am?" Min-Ho suddenly asked the guards guiding him to the underground prison.
Besides him was the two bandits carrying Baek San unconscious body.
The guards paused and stared at him as if he was an idiot.
"You got inside the azure sect without you not knowing where you are?"
"Can I ask what's a sect is?" Min-Ho asked genuinely confused.
The guards sighed softly one by one.
But still one of them decided to explain.
"You really don't know anything do you? A sect is an organization filled of powerful individuals and could be said as a school to learn martial art techniques."
"Currently we're in the azure sect."
Min-Ho blinked processing the information.
"Mm." Min-Ho nodded while frowning slightly.
"Tch, since you really seems clueless I'll make this quick."
"There are five regions Southern Region, Northern Region, Western Region, Eastern Region and finally the Forsaken Region."
"There are also many eras if you're wondering what era we're in it's called the Human Sovereignty Era."
"And if you thinking which region this is it's the Southern Region."
Upon hearing that Min-Ho began pondering even more questions.
The more his question got answered the more questions appeared in his mind.
"Can I ask more questions?"
"No." The guard shut him down instantly.
Min-Ho's eye twitched.
He suppressed his irritation and continued walking.
On the way he saw some disciples training, their movements were sloppy to the point of being painful to watch.
"Eh? Is that supposed to be a martial arts?" He inwardly muttered to himself.
Their robes had azure dragons embroidered in the back. Soon it didn't take long for them to arrive at the underground prison.
As its name suggested it was beneath the palace.
At the far left edge of the Empress's palace a hole magically opened in the ground. Inside, torchlight illuminated a long staircase descending deep below.
The guards followed behind.
The four captives walked ahead, the two other bandits carrying Baek San's unconscious body.
Eventually, they reached the bottom, and a foul stench assaulted them.
Instead of prisoners, each cell contained a beast, like a wolves twice the size of a normal wolves in earth, enormous birds with terrifying claws, and body with three times the size of ordinary birds.
Worse, there were people inside the cells. Some were corpses, and others is still alive but with missing limbs.
The beasts were intelligent enough to keep them for long-term food.
Min-Ho's stomach churned. He almost threw up, but quickly covered his mouth.
"What the fuck?!"
"This isn't an underground prison this is a damn feeding ground!"
He cursed inwardly.
The bandits in front of him face turned very pale shivering as they walk, while the guards didn't seems to bother at such scene and continue pushing them to walk.
"Baek San Wake up..." One of them hurriedly tried waking him up.
Since their only chance of survival was him.
But eventually they each got separated.
"Which feral beasts have we not fed yet?"
"The two dire wolves, the bloodthirsty rabbit, and the black mantis."
As one of them suggested, they slowly was thrown into a different cell.
Once everyone was dumped inside the guards left without a word.
Min-Ho found himself tossed into a cell where inside was the black Mantis with glowing green eyes, about six feet tall with skin black as ink.
He gulped the cell was spacious, but not enough to give him comfort.
It didn't take long for the screams of the other bandits echoed as one by one they we're attacked by the other beast.
He tried to calm his pounding heart. But it was impossible.
The black mantis simply stared at him, carefully observing his movements. It had not yet attack him.
"Calm down… it's just a mantis…"
"A huge fucking! mantis!" he cried internally.
But as time passed, it seemed uninterested in him.
His racing heart slowly steadied. Looking around, he noticed three skeletal remains.
He gulped again.
But this time, curiosity sparked. One of the skeletal remains was a half torn manual book.
He had only noticed it when the twilight system flickered in front of him.
[True Azure Fist] [Basic Martial Art Technique]
[Twilight system processing...]
[Would you like to learn?]
[Yes/No]
"Good..." Min-Ho eyes lights up having a mystical power sounded incredible.
He immediately pressed yes.
[Host must comprehend the hologram as much as possible!!!]
[Notice:It will depend on the host talent in how fast will you comprehend it!]
A hologram appeared a faceless figure, like a manikin, slowly performing a sequence of movements.
Before he could understand anything, he felt something bite his arm.
"Arghh!"
"What the—?!" He had let his guard down for a moment, and now the beast besides him attacked him.
"One Triumph Luck wasn't that reliable as I thought..."
Min-Ho cursed instead of trying to fight back he instead didn't struggle. And allowed the black mantis to tear a chunk of flesh from his arm.
As it swallowed the flesh, it suddenly choked.
Even from just a small chunk of his flesh.
A moment later, the mantis looked disgusted.
It stared at him as if he tasted like garbage.
Min-Ho's face distorted with pain.
But still he ignored the mockery of the black mantis.
He watched the hologram.
The manikin moved swiftly almost in slow motion.
As he observed he noticed the technique contained hidden meaning.
"Attack, retreat, defend."
The three fundamental pillars of the technique.
It was similar to the disciples earlier, but dozens of times sharper and more fluid.
The fist moved swiftly, striking vital points where people were most vulnerable.
"This is several times better than what I saw from those disciples..."
He muttered to himself.
It ended with a clean punch to the jaw.
He blinked.
Min-Ho had studied diligently all his life, so he recognized the pattern the manikin targeted only vital spots.
"It's pretty easy. I should be able to do it…"
Then he paused.
If he really tried to do it he would simply waste his time and exhaust himself with it.
"Logically, that power needs a source… a cause. Something must be a fuel in every martial art technique except my one triumph luck of course..."
"But where?"
He asked to himself.
The pain in his arm faded from his awareness.
He closed his eyes, ignoring everything, focusing solely on his body. Slowly, he felt strangely calm.
He sensed every nerve in his body, coursing with tiny blue particles.
"Huh? So this must be it," Min-Ho muttered.
"To think I'll discover it so easily I must be a genius!" He declared to himself with pride.
But what he had actually achieved was beyond logic. To identify qi without guidance was simply impressive
Of course that is also because it was combined with his knowledge in earth.
He let the qi flow through him like water.
The particles connected, flowing properly. The bleeding in his arm stopped as he circulated the qi.
Finally, he opened his eyes.
"Strange…" Min-Ho whispered.
The black mantis continued watching him warily it was hesitating whether to attack or wait.
He sighed.
He knew the beast would attack again sooner or later.
No matter how bad he tasted, in the face of death, eating him would be better than starving to death.
[True Azure Fist Learned!]
"Hm? It's that easy to learn the technique…?"