Chapter 125: The Secret of the Forbidden Zone

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The Blood God’s Reign Period.

An era when the Martial God of Blood Demons descended, pacified the chaotic martial world, and stood at its very pinnacle.

After long ages, such deeds of the Blood God had become a legendary myth.

Legendary old tales are bound to have exaggeration and distortion.

But.

Cheol Ryu-heun had once roamed this vast martial world alongside the Blood God – he knew better than anyone that there was not the slightest exaggeration or distortion in the martial achievements passed from mouth to mouth.

The so-called Blood God’s Reign Period officially began through the Namgung Family, which had rapidly risen as a new prestigious sword family of the orthodox faction in those days.

Azure Sky Sword Saint Namgung Je.

As the founder of the Namgung Family, he was an owner of the Divine Martial Sword.

Most of the consummate sword arts that could be called the family’s foundation – including Azure Heaven Great Destiny Sword Technique, Heaven Vault Formless Sword, Imperial Four Arts Sword Technique, Heaven Flow Cloud Wall Sword Technique – were born through Namgung Je’s genius martial ability.

His aptitude was truly heaven-sent, to the extent that he even drew out the latent divine powers of the Divine Martial Sword.

Yet.

Heaven was mischievous.

Because just when Namgung Je had earned the alias Azure Sky Sword Saint and risen to the ranks of the orthodox faction’s strongest, another genius appeared.

It was the Blood God.

One day, this person of foreign origin suddenly set foot in the martial world and began an unstoppable charge, defeating one renowned figure after another from both orthodox and unorthodox factions.

Around seven years after Namgung Je obtained the Divine Martial Sword, the Blood God – having defeated in succession the heads of the Ximen and Murong Families – challenged him.

An official one-on-one duel, with the Divine Martial Sword as the stake of victory and defeat.

Thus the two crossed swords, and in the end, the owner of the Divine Martial Sword changed.

It was a bout of barely fifty seconds.

However, throughout the entire orthodox and unorthodox martial world, only a handful of fighters had withstood the Blood God’s techniques for more than fifty seconds – so no one dared disparage Azure Sky Sword Saint Namgung Je’s martial prowess.

Rather, after his defeat, he continued training and in his later years became the unparalleled supreme master within the orthodox faction.

Had he been born in a different era, he would surely have become the martial world’s hegemon.

After obtaining the Divine Martial Sword, the Blood God even achieved spiritual communication with it and set his sights on the Nine Great Sects.

‘It was nearly at the end. When that fellow knocked on Mount Heng Sect’s door…’

By that time, the Blood God was just before solidifying his position as the absolute supreme, and the Nine Great Sects including Mount Heng Sect were essentially the final gates.

But before the bout with Namgung Je, the Sect Leaders of four places had already kneeled.

Starting with Shaolin Temple, the Blood God won consecutive victories against the remaining Nine Great Sect Leaders, and finally only Mount Heng Sect remained.

-Shaolin’s Buddha-heart has sunk, Wudang’s stone cliff has collapsed, Emei’s Bodhisattva has submitted, and Mount Hua’s plum blossom has fallen… Now only Mount Heng’s cloud peak remains. To commemorate today’s great martial achievement, I shall carve this seat’s indelible mark upon this Taoist sacred ground.

The Blood God made that declaration upon arriving here, certain of victory.

At that time, Mount Heng Sect abandoned its pride.

Since the end was already decided, the Sect Leader and the sect’s greatest Taoists – namely the Three Sages of Mount Heng – all came forward together.

The Blood God accepted that challenge without the slightest hesitation.

However, the condition he proposed along with his concession was to go to a symbolic place within Mount Heng for the battle.

He meant the enormous cave situated beneath Sage Peak.

It was a place that had become a traditional sacred ground ever since the founding patriarch Immortal Cloud Treading had performed wall-facing cultivation there.

The Blood God went there and subdued the Three Sages of Mount Heng in about fifty seconds, and as he had proclaimed beforehand, carved his indelible mark.

From that day forward, the precious cave that had been the meditation spot for successive Sect Leaders transformed into a space filled with dense demonic energy.

After recovering their bodies, the Three Sages of Mount Heng poured in energy arts imbued with Taoist power, trying to eliminate the demonic energy there.

Yet.

It only had the reverse effect.

Because the demonic energy in the great cave remained unmoved, and their celestial energy was added and mixed in, creating a truly chaotic space.

As a result, Mount Heng Sect’s sacred ground was designated as a forbidden zone where entry was impossible without the Sect Leader’s permission, and that state had been maintained until now.

For a full two hundred years or so.

However.

There was one hidden history that only Cheol Ryu-heun knew.

The true nature that allowed the demonic energy to persist permanently in the cave was the influence of the divine powers exerted by the Divine Martial Sword.

Indeed, it was something no one else knew.

At the time, the Blood God had engaged in spiritual dialogue with the Divine Martial Sword, wanting to leave his mark in Mount Heng Sect’s precious sacred ground.

-Divine Martial Sword, if I borrow your power, can I plant my demonic energy in this place forever?

-Like a kind of energy circulation formation…?

-Exactly.

-Hmm, I’ve never done that before.

-Is it difficult?

-Actually, this cave naturally possesses a mysterious power. It might help.

-Mysterious power? How do you know that?

-Because I stayed here with Immortal Cloud Treading.

-Right… He was once an owner of the Divine Martial Sword too.

-I spent nearly fifteen years.

-Anyway, as befitting the cave of a renowned sacred mountain, it seems to hold nature’s spiritual energy. You’re saying if we use that, it might be possible?

-Let’s try.

-Hoho. Indeed, the Divine Martial Sword.

-Don’t speak casually to me. You’re just a bloodstained thing that hasn’t lived half the time I have.

-……

-Since when have you been gradually speaking informally?

-……

-Whatever, fine. Emit the maximum demonic energy you can produce while simultaneously drawing out and using my divine power. Compress it into pill form and then detonate it all at once.

-I… Will.

-This should be interesting.

It was successful.

The Blood God’s demonic energy, harmonized with the unfathomable divine power harbored by the Divine Martial Sword, thus remained here permanently.

Cheol Ryu-heun recalled the old memory in his mind, then soon erased it and withdrew his gaze that had been resting on Sage Peak.

‘What is there is essentially a fragment of my divine power. Though it’s power I already expelled outside back then, if I can somehow take it back into this body and control it in some way…’

Then couldn’t he revive some of the Divine Martial Sword’s lost functions through this unprecedented body?

Cheol Ryu-heun stroked the hilt of the Gan Jiang Sword with that thought.

‘And also find a clever way to transform this sword into a divine weapon…’

-They called you an unprecedented divine sword throughout history, but you’re nothing special.

Those insulting words that came to mind at every opportunity kept fueling his drive for achievement and competitive spirit endlessly.

Through Dark Hall Master Jeo Gyeom, he had somewhat grasped this mysterious body’s miraculous functions and essentials, and now it was time to accelerate martial development and learn more of its hidden powers.

At that time, the fact that Jeo Gyeom possessed the Ghost Skull Divine Armor had been quite helpful.

Because completely destroying that ghost-attribute item necessarily required the owner’s final awakening, it had taken some time – but anyway, thanks to that, he conducted various experiments and reconfirmed this body’s current usefulness.

‘About two hundred years have passed since the Blood God… So this is the arrival of the martial world’s chaotic era that people often speak of.’

Cheol Ryu-heun had experienced all the two-hundred-year cyclical chaotic eras.

That powerful fighters emerged like the many stars of the night sky, more strikingly than other eras – that was truly not an exaggerated claim.

From the Heavenly Demon to the Blood God, truly many masters had appeared in those five chaotic eras of the two-hundred-year cycles.

Martial artists who, had they been born in another era, one would think they could have aimed for the number one position…

When coincidence repeats, it is no longer coincidence.

The current martial world also has sufficient possibility of welcoming a new chaotic era as outstanding martial artists pour forth like stars.

‘Even just the Sect Leader here has a high level.’

Cheol Ryu-heun had sensed it early on.

Through this mysterious body’s transcendent senses, he knew that the energy lurking within Taoist Cheon Mu’s body was very powerful.

Judging from that, the groups of regional powerhouses like the Five Supreme Martial Experts of Hunan Province probably possessed even higher martial prowess than expected.

‘Was the one who mercilessly destroyed me an omen of the chaotic era’s arrival?’

Suddenly, signs of presence were heard from outside the guest hall.

BANG-

The faded lattice door made a sound as it slid open.

It was Taoist Cheon Mu, the Mount Heng Sect Leader.

“Sect Master Cheol, did you wait long?”

At that, Cheol Ryu-heun stepped away from the window ledge and asked.

“It was unanimous, wasn’t it?”

“Hoho, did you already anticipate the meeting’s atmosphere? Everyone was busy praising Sect Master Cheol until their mouths went dry.”

“Well, since the gift I gave was Hundred-Year Snow Ginseng, who wouldn’t react that way?”

“I will gratefully accept.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Since you’ve come all this way, why not stay the night and go with this humble Taoist when morning comes tomorrow?”

“Sounds good.”

“Very well, Sect Master Cheol. Then we’ll plan on that. Oh, Gong Wol’s promotion examination is in a little while – how about observing?”

“Yes, let’s go.”

Cheol Ryu-heun answered expressionlessly and headed out of the guest hall behind Taoist Cheon Mu.

* * *

An inner room in one hall within White Peak Sword Sect grounds.

Namgung Sang-rin and Hae Su-yeon were having a conversation while drinking tea with a small square tea table between them.

“Thinking about Lady Hae’s reaction earlier makes me laugh again. Calling instructors fierce demon heads… Ahahat.”

As soon as Namgung Sang-rin finished speaking, Hae Su-yeon narrowed her eyes and snorted.

“Hmph, I saw everything.”

“Pardon?”

“Young Master Namgung putting his hand on his sword hilt.”

“……”

“You seemed even more startled than me, didn’t you? Hohot.”

“When did you see that? Ugh.”

“By the way, what kind of martial world aliases do those three instructors we saw earlier have? Swordsmen of Passion, Effort, and Persistence… Pfft. That’s strange.”

“This is my first time hearing it too. Ha. It must be a joke. Surely that’s not really their aliases?”

“Their expressions were serious.”

“Ah, well… The meanings of passion, effort, and persistence themselves are fine…”

“Anyway, when will everyone finish their personal training? Sitting here idly is a bit boring.”

Speak of the tiger and he comes – with faint sounds of presence, the inner room door quietly slid open.

Immediately after, one figure entered.

It was White Flash Sword Tiger Hyeop Mu-geuk.

Namgung Sang-rin quickly stood and paid his respects politely.

“Ah, welcome. Chief Supervisor Hyeop.”

Hae Su-yeon also bowed her head in silent greeting.

“Have you waited long?”

When Hyeop Mu-geuk asked with an apologetic face, Namgung Sang-rin smiled and shook his head slightly.

“Not at all. And please speak casually.”

“But…”

“It’s really alright. Chief Supervisor Hyeop.”

“Mm, alright, I understand. Young Master Namgung. I need to go back due to training ordered by the Sect Master, so I won’t be free until around evening. For now… Here, take this. It was personally written by the Sect Master, and he once instructed that if the person with that special scabbard visits, I should give this to them.”

Hyeop Mu-geuk placed several books on the table along with those words and walked back out the door.

“Wait a bit more. Well then, I’ll take my leave.”

After he disappeared, Namgung Sang-rin widened his eyes the moment he saw the books’ titles.

“Th-this can’t be!”

It couldn’t be helped.

Heaven Vault Formless Sword, Imperial Four Arts Sword Technique, Azure Sky Sword Form, Heaven Flow Cloud Wall Sword Technique, Sky Breaking Sword Forms… Every single title was a major lost sword art of the Namgung Family.

Hae Su-yeon’s eyes also shook wide with light of surprise.

Since the Namgung Family’s sword arts had been famous from ancient times, she too immediately recognized them just from seeing the titles.

“Good heavens… Young Master! Those things, are they what came to my mind?”

At that, Namgung Sang-rin nodded.

“Yes… All of these are… My family’s lost sword arts. Ha, I can’t believe it.”

“Wait, how does Sect Master Cheol even know the Namgung Family’s sword formulas?”

“I… Don’t know.”

Namgung Sang-rin’s words faltered and his expression was dazed.

-A flower blooms but there’s no butterfly. Are you wandering around to find one?

Hae Su-yeon recalled those words again and clenched her fist tightly.

‘It’s certain! He… Completely knows the history of the sword I possess, and even its martial arts! This might be an opportunity of fate!’

-If you’re thinking of becoming a Guest Retainer of our sect, you’re welcome.

She finally realized.

Cheol Ryu-heun’s projected voice meant that if she decided to stay at White Peak Sword Sect, she would obtain what she sought.

Hae Su-yeon’s eyes lit up as she steeled her resolve.

‘The place I belong… Is here!’

That evening.

Hae Su-yeon composed a letter to be sent to Sword Seal Sect’s Master, Severing Finger Sword Venerable So Cheon-ak.

<I’m not going to be a Guest Retainer there anymore. Never look for me again. And please stop with the concubine talk.>

* * *

The next day.

Cheol Ryu-heun finished breakfast, rested briefly, and then under Taoist Cheon Mu’s guidance arrived at the forbidden zone entrance beneath Sage Peak.