Chapter 1517 – 1517. Ascending To The Light
I told Mireyeong about my conversation with Ma Hobul, the branch leader of the Mookjiryun. There was something that bothered me.
‘If it’s hard to find the answer, you can just ask someone else.’
Mireyeong might seem a bit goofy, but she was smart. She was versatile enough to be called all-around.
“So, the Little Celestial Demon… was it Cheon Yu-un? They’re trying to use you, Master, to keep him in check. I don’t have concrete evidence, but they might be trying to use him for more than just keeping him in check.”
“More than keeping him in check…”
I couldn’t not understand what that meant.
I nodded.
And after a long time, I began training. It wasn’t automatic training, but direct training.
It was a barrier within the forest.
It wasn’t a good place. There wasn’t any land suitable for training nearby. For example, land where energy flowed abundantly.
‘Those places have already been taken over by famous sects.’
There was no choice.
It wasn’t like I could just barge into the Jongnam Sect to train.
I was grateful that Mireyeong was by my side. She had cast a sensory technique on me that helped with training. The sensory technique was a method that made the senses more sensitive.
I cleared my mind and focused on my breathing.
My senses became even more acute.
The soft touch of the wind on my skin began to feel solid. The leaves falling in the wind fell slowly. Even though I wasn’t using the Moment, my concentration was accelerating my thought process.
It wasn’t anything special in this world.
There’s a saying that battles between masters end in a moment. That saying is half right and half wrong. From the perspective of ordinary people, battles between masters are over in a moment, but from the perspective of masters, that moment is a day or even longer.
‘That’s why you can never win if the difference in level is too great. Masters and novices live in different worlds.’
I drew my sword from my waist.
Contrary to its nickname, Lightning Blade, the sword was slow. It wasn’t because my thoughts were accelerated. Even from the perspective of an ordinary person, they would see the sword being drawn very slowly, slower than a snail crawling.
According to Wi Yu, quickness and slowness are one. If you understand quickness, you can understand slowness, and if you understand slowness, you can understand quickness. You can only reach the true realm of quickness when you understand both.
‘I don’t understand at all.’
It was said that someone of my level should naturally understand the principles of martial arts. But no matter how many times I pondered it, I couldn’t understand.
‘If it’s fast, it’s fast. Why do I need to be slow?’
Quickness just needs to be fast.
Nothing else is needed.
Swing the sword quickly, kill the enemy quickly.
I just wanted my sword to be like lightning.
‘But I can’t ignore what a super master says.’
Wi Yu was a master among masters.
In this world, there were only a handful of people who could compare to her.
‘Since such a super master is my teacher, I should do as she says.’
I swung the sword slowly.
It might look ridiculous, but it’s quite difficult to do it yourself. If you make even a small mistake, the sword will bounce around. You have to exert strength and perfectly control your muscles.
The training in slowness, which didn’t yield any particular results, was over.
Of course, that wasn’t all there was to training.
I sat down on the ground with a thud. I took out a spirit pill from my inventory. It was a spirit pill made by combining the cheap elixirs that I got from the spatial pouch after killing the Black Tiger.
‘Eating this won’t suddenly raise my level.’
Transcending the realm of the Five Energies. If it were possible simply by taking elixirs, I would have already broken through the wall a long time ago.
Still, an elixir is an elixir.
I believed that this elixir would lower the threshold of the wall even a little, and I took it.
Gulp.
As the intense bitterness disappeared, flames surged within my body. The hot flames spread to my fingertips and toes.
I chanted the Thunder Heaven Knot and controlled the energy. The energy of the elixir couldn’t defy my will.
Crack, crackle.
Thunder energy sparked from my entire body. The thunder energy revolved around me. It was a cycle. A cycle that was already complete.
The circulation of energy was perfect. It was too perfect, which was the problem. To transcend the realm, I had to raise this circulation of energy to a higher level.
I deliberately disrupted the circulation. The circulation became faster and faster. It was like a supercar speeding down a highway. It was more exhilarating than anything when driving on a straight road, but the story changed when there was a corner. The thunder energy began to deviate from the circulation.
The shape of the circulation distorted. The aftermath led to internal injuries.
Blood flowed from my eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. A total of seven holes. The blood vessels were damaged. It was already beyond repair. The thunder energy that had escaped my control was even encroaching on my brain. Usually, this would lead to death or madness due to qi deviation.
‘With my Absolute Spirit, I won’t go mad.’
Bang!
My head exploded.
[Death Resistance has been activated. You will not die for the next 15 seconds.]
[Using Full Recovery.]
“Hoo.”
I sighed and got up from my seat. The floor was sticky with blood and brain fragments.
‘I failed again.’
I pushed myself too hard, trusting in Full Recovery. But I couldn’t break through the wall. I couldn’t even find a clue to break through the wall.
‘I’ve done it several times, but this method isn’t the answer.’
I trained like this every time, thinking that if I was prepared to die, I might achieve something. But no matter how many times I died, there were no results.
It was the same even when using the Genius Time.
‘Well, it’s not like Yuria broke through realms so easily either.’
Yuria also trained steadily and got stuck in realms. Because I knew how hard she worked, I didn’t want to belittle her efforts by calling her a genius.
‘But Yuria is a genius, isn’t she?’
If an ordinary person gets 1 result with 1 effort, Yuria gets 10 or more results with 1 effort.
‘If Yuria were me, it wouldn’t take her a few years to break through the wall, would it?’
I left the training area, thinking pointless thoughts.
Today’s training was over. I didn’t feel like training anymore.
•••
It was time for the regular report.
I sat down in a place away from Baewol City and looked up at the sky. A black hawk flew in. It was a low-level spirit beast called the Black Horse Hawk. The reason why it had the character for horse (馬) in its name was because its torso vaguely resembled a horse.
The Black Horse Hawk was a spirit beast with the ability to make its body transparent. It was also intelligent and had a strong homing instinct, so the Heavenly Demon Cult actively used the Black Horse Hawk.
The Black Horse Hawk flew to me and landed on the ground. The Black Horse Hawk shook its head cynically. The pouch hanging from its neck flew to me.
I received the pouch with a question. I had met the Black Horse Hawk about six times so far, but this was the first time it had brought something separately.
Inside the pouch was a folded piece of paper. I unfolded the paper to check it.
[Sakpung Ghost Sword Jeong Bae is hiding near Mount Jongnam. Find him, kill him, and put his head in the pouch and send it back.]
It was a mission from the Heavenly Demon Cult.
I scratched my head. It goes without saying, but I had no idea who Sakpung Ghost Sword Jeong Bae was. I had never even heard of his name or his alias.
‘Judging by his alias, he’s not a righteous person.’
The alias of a righteous martial artist doesn’t include the word “ghost” (鬼).
‘A heretic. Or a cultist.’
The latter was more likely.
Crack.
A small spark ignited and burned the paper. The Black Horse Hawk sitting on the ground looked up at me.
“Follow me. Stay at my place for a while.”
The Black Horse Hawk nodded as if it understood my words.
•••
I met Ma Hobul, the branch leader of the Mookjiryun in Mount Jongnam.
Ma Hobul asked me with a blank face.
“Why did you ask to see me? The Sect Leader is not available to meet you yet.”
“It’s not about that.”
“Do you need more maintenance expenses?”
“It would be nice if I had them.”
“……”
Ma Hobul took out a money pouch from his pocket as if he had expected it and handed it to me. I tossed the money pouch up and caught it repeatedly. The clinking sound was pleasant to hear.
“I’m done with my business, so I’ll be on my way.”
Ma Hobul didn’t welcome me. He was being polite with a blank face, but he couldn’t fool my sharp eyes. He definitely disliked me.
“Wait. That’s not all I came for today.”
“Do you need something else? Elixirs take time.”
“A mission has come down from the cult.”
Ma Hobul’s demeanor changed. The somewhat relaxed atmosphere hardened coldly.
“Do you need our help?”
“It’s not necessary. I’m enough on my own.”
“Then?”
“It’s a test. A test of whether you can be of help to me. If you disappoint me… I’ll cancel my acceptance of your proposal. I’m not stupid enough to work with the incompetent.”
Despite my blatant provocation, Ma Hobul didn’t react. He just asked calmly.
“What do you want us to do?”
“The cult told me to kill Sakpung Ghost Sword Jeong Bae. I’ll give you three days. Bring me information about him. Where he is, his family relations, even the martial arts he has mastered. If even one thing is missing, my sword will be pointed at you.”
“The Mookjiryun is not a place that specializes in information.”
“So, you’re saying you can’t do it?”
“But we can easily handle that much. We will bring you the information within two days.”
Ma Hobul kept his word.
He reappeared in two days and handed over the information about Sakpung Ghost Sword Jeong Bae.
From his current location to his family relations, and even information about the swordsmanship he had mastered, called the Wind Spirit Sword.
I roughly skimmed the paper with the information and asked Ma Hobul.
“Why does the cult want to kill Sakpung Ghost Sword?”
“Sakpung Ghost Sword was a member of the Kanghyeol Unit. During a mission, he killed a superior and stole an elixir and ran away.”
“How good was the elixir that he committed insubordination?”
“It’s the Summoning Pill of the Shaolin.”
“That makes sense.”
One of the most famous elixirs in the martial world is the Shaolin Temple’s Summoning Pill and Great Return Pill. There have even been cases where ten small and medium-sized sects were destroyed because of one Great Return Pill, so it was not at all strange that insubordination occurred because of the Summoning Pill.
“He was a martial artist at the 8th level of the Exit Stage, but since he took the Summoning Pill, he must have reached the realm of the Five Energies.”
“He’s probably just at the beginning of the Five Energies. He’s no match for me.”
“Sakpung Ghost Sword has killed a martial artist at the 5th level of the Five Energies even before obtaining the Summoning Pill. Don’t underestimate him too much.”
“I roughly know his martial arts. Stop with the useless talk and tell me where he’s hiding.”
