PD -Chapter 138 Cannibals of Their Own Kind

I wasn’t wrong—they really were living in this hell, rather than suffering in the way I had imagined.

Though, living here was suffering in itself.

Yet it was nothing like the image of hell I had expected.

There were no wardens driving them with whips. No prison cells. No visible punishments forcing them into submission.

These souls looked no different from living people, except that their bodies were covered in horrific wounds and frostbite, making them deeply unsettling to look at.

At the foot of the snowy mountain seemed to be a cave. A group of souls had apparently formed a community of their own and lived inside it.

Within this Frozen Hell, there was nothing but ice and snow. No vegetation. In fact, nothing at all besides ice and snow.

As a result, they had no tools or resources to use. Even if they retained all the wisdom they possessed in life, there was no way to rely on external means to withstand the bone-piercing cold.

They could think. They could understand everything.

But as the saying goes, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice.

There were no supplies. No fuel for fires. No materials to make warm clothing.

I realized that was the true torment.

The frostbitten souls staggered across the snowfield, digging through the ice with their bare hands and carrying the excavated snow back into the cave.

After thinking for a moment, I decided to approach them and search for clues regarding the Core of Hell.

I flashed down to the base of the mountain.

Someone quickly noticed me, yet none of them seemed surprised. A few merely glanced in my direction before continuing their work.

Earlier, because of the distance and the blizzard, I hadn’t been able to see clearly.

Now, however, I noticed they did have tools after all.

Several skeletal-looking figures were using dark yellow implements to dig into the snow and ice.

When I got closer, I realized those tools were made from human bones.

I froze.

Although the souls in hell possessed tangible bodies no different from living humans, and therefore naturally had bones…

The beings suffering in hell could not enter reincarnation because of their sins. Until they completed their punishment, they would never be reborn.

In a sense, the people here were immortal.

If that was the case…

Where had those bone tools come from?

Did they use the bodies of their own companions as tools?

The thought sent a chill down my spine.

The questions I had wanted to ask suddenly stuck in my throat.

I stared at them for a long time.

None of them seemed capable of speech.

Instead, they stared at my clothes, their eyes filled with unconcealed desire.

After some thought, I expanded the range of my Golden Light Mantra, enveloping two or three naked souls within its radiance and shielding them from the cold.

The moment the warmth surrounded them, their trembling ceased.

For the first time, expressions of surprise appeared on their faces.

“I can get you out of here,” I said to one of the souls inside my golden light. “Do you know where the Core of Hell is?”

The emaciated soul, covered in red blister-like swellings, moved sluggishly.

It seemed that after spending too long in hell, even his thoughts had frozen.

After a long pause, he slowly raised a hand as though to point somewhere.

But halfway through the motion, he stopped.

At that moment, the other souls digging through the snow realized my golden light could drive away the cold.

They immediately surged forward.

Pushing and shoving one another, they tried to drag the sheltered souls out of the light and seize their places.

Chaos erupted.

Even the souls inside the cave came out to see what was happening.

And the sight of those emerging figures made my scalp tingle.

Their mouths were smeared with blood.

In their hands they carried chunks of flesh and bone.

Calling it flesh was generous—it was little more than shriveled skin clinging to bone.

Some of the remains were so intact that it was obvious they belonged to a human being.

A person had been dismembered alive and divided among them for consumption.

For all I knew, it had been one of their own companions.

The most horrifying sight was a woman carrying a severed human head.

The head’s mouth was still twitching.

Its eyes still moved.

Just like the others, it stared at me with greedy longing.

There was no release in hell.

Even if someone was torn apart and eaten by their companions, their body would regenerate, and they would continue suffering in hell.

Only now did I realize how naive I had been when I first entered this place.

This…

This was true hell.

Anger rose within me toward these souls who had been reduced to nothing but desire.

In an instant, I withdrew my Golden Light Mantra and unleashed spiritual power, blasting them backward.

A large group of souls was sent flying and crashed onto the icy ground.

Only then did I notice something unexpected among the crowd.

A small figure.

“A child?”

I couldn’t help but stare in surprise.

The Frozen Hell was meant for those who had been greedy, deceitful, and morally corrupt in life.

The child looked no older than five or six.

How could someone like him have ended up here?

I was about to approach him when the surrounding souls began closing in again.

Then I realized it made perfect sense.

My clothing and the mysterious golden light that they couldn’t understand were both capable of driving away the cold.

In a hell where nothing existed, such things were more precious than any treasure.

Furthermore, they couldn’t truly die here.

They didn’t care how powerful I was.

If I were strong enough to kill them permanently and free them from their suffering, wouldn’t that be exactly what they wanted?

Without hesitation, the souls charged toward me again, trying to surround me.

I knew continuing to struggle with them would accomplish nothing.

After a brief moment of thought, I rushed toward the child, scooped him into my arms, and transformed into a blur as I sped away into the distance.

The souls were unwilling to let me go.

But their limbs were stiff from the freezing cold, making them far too slow to catch me.

All they could do was watch helplessly as I escaped.

The child in my arms shivered in the blizzard.

His frostbite seemed less severe than that of the other souls, though I had no idea why.

I sighed.

Looking at the dull yet faintly curious eyes staring back at me, I wrapped him in the protection of my Golden Light Mantra and shielded him from the cold.

After traveling for several minutes, I found a secluded corner among the snow-covered mountains.

There, I stopped and set the child down.

Looking at him, I asked,

“You’re so young. How did you end up in the Frozen Hell?”

Feeling the warmth around him, the child’s trembling finally ceased.

Blinking his eyes, he looked me up and down with curiosity and reached out to touch my clothes.

I let him do so without stopping him.

After watching him for a moment, I continued,

“Kid, do you know what the Core of Hell is? If you tell me, I can take you out of here.”

Of course, I didn’t have much hope.

I didn’t even know whether the child could speak or understand me.

How could I possibly expect him to provide useful information?

Perhaps I was simply lonely.

Perhaps I was just making conversation with the only child I had encountered in this hell.

But to my surprise…

The child understood what I said.

And he actually pointed me in the right direction.