Chapter 126: To Higher Places

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The cave, facing a cliff that stretched long beneath Sage Peak, gaped open like a giant black figure standing on the mountain ledge.

Cheol Ryu-heun, standing with his back to the pitch-black entrance, briefly admired the scenery created by the great mountains and ranges all around.

If Zhurong Peak was the number one peak in height, then Sage Peak was the number one sacred peak – indeed, befitting Mount Heng Sect’s old sacred ground, the area around the peak evoked a beautiful painting.

The magnificent terrain of Mount Heng stretching across hundreds of li gave a feeling of swelling chest just from taking it in with the eyes.

As if even an ordinary person could attain some deep Tao…

‘Now that I’m actually here, it feels strangely nostalgic.’

Cheol Ryu-heun muttered briefly inside, then met eyes with Taoist Cheon Mu standing beside him.

“Shall we begin?”

At that, Taoist Cheon Mu nodded and gestured toward the forest beside the cave.

Immediately after.

RUSTLE, RUSTLE-

Along with the sound of parting through the thick brush, two Mount Heng Sect disciples appeared with nimble movements.

They were Taoists in their early forties who were charged with all duties of surveillance, control, and reporting regarding the forbidden zone.

Personnel stationed at the small nearby temple rotated roughly every three months, and the two who had just appeared were Baek Pyeong and Baek Hae, mid-level figures among the first-generation disciples.

Taoist Cheon Mu quietly asked upon seeing them.

“Have you prepared the items I instructed yesterday?”

At that, Baek Pyeong and Baek Hae bowed and replied.

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

Following that, the two produced a small incense burner and quite a thick coil of rope.

Cheol Ryu-heun saw it and chuckled internally.

‘They must be quite worried.’

Before long, Taoist Cheon Mu spoke with a serious expression.

“Sect Master Cheol, first tie that rope around your waist. It’s a precaution for emergencies, so please bear with the inconvenience.”

“Alright.”

Cheol Ryu-heun took the rope without objection and tied it around his waist.

Baek Pyeong and Baek Hae immediately took the opposite end of the rope and connected it to a stake driven deep into the ground at one side of the cave entrance.

Taoist Cheon Mu opened the incense burner lid while giving instructions.

“There are ten prepared incense sticks. By rough estimate, the time for all of them to burn down will be about one shichen. If Sect Master Cheol shows no response even after that, this humble Taoist will personally pull the rope. Do you agree?”

“Yes.”

“The feeling is strange. It’s like placing a three-year-old child by the water’s edge. Must be excessive worry.”

“Then do you have anything more to say to me?”

“There is exactly one thing… But I’ll save it.”

Hearing those words from Taoist Cheon Mu, Cheol Ryu-heun responded with a wordless nod and strode forward.

He could guess what the saved words were.

-It was only twenty steps. I couldn’t go any deeper.

Taoist Cheon Mu’s account of his experience – a caution not to go more than twenty steps, as he himself had done – he probably tried to say that but realized Cheol Ryu-heun, who desperately wanted enlightenment, wouldn’t follow it and just buried it in his heart.

STEP.

Cheol Ryu-heun stopped a few paces before the great cave and soon turned his head, throwing out a quiet voice.

“With one who vies for the top among the Five Supreme Martial Experts of Hunan Province present, what is there to worry about?”

At such considerate words, Taoist Cheon Mu wore a faint smile.

‘Hoho. Yes, perhaps it’s nothing more than needless worry…’

At that moment, first-generation disciple Baek Hae handed him a torch.

“Take this with you, Sect Master Cheol. It’s a space where unprecedented energies swirl, so it won’t last long before going out…”

Cheol Ryu-heun took the torch and resumed walking with his usual expressionless face.

STEP, STEP, STEP…

As soon as he crossed the boundary of the great entrance, a heavy formless pressure transmitted from deep within the darkness-like space.

‘Ho-oh.’

Cheol Ryu-heun’s eyes held a faint gleam.

It felt like invisible hands yanking at his skin.

Perhaps this was the power generated by the battleground between the demonic energy trying to seep out and the celestial energy suppressing and resisting it.

When he had taken ten steps.

THUD-

Something like a wall blocked his advance.

‘The real start now.’

Cheol Ryu-heun wasted no time in operating his ultimate internal energy.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE…

Vibration from the powerful formless energy.

He was opening a path.

Sure enough, a chilly wind poured out forcefully as if a hole had opened in the middle of that formless wall.

WHOOOOSH, WHOOOOOSH-

FLUTTER, FLUTTER, FLUTTER.

While his clothes flapped noisily, Cheol Ryu-heun continued walking deep inside.

The wind grew fiercer.

HWUUUOOONG-!

The resonant sound harmonizing with the cave performed a strange music that felt somewhat chilling.

A space of pitch blackness.

The torch in his left hand was still maintaining its tenacious life.

CRACK… CRACKLE… CRACK…

But since the wind was so fierce, sparks flew off continuously.

From the precarious movement of the flame swaying back and forth, it seemed it would go out before long.

Finally, when he reached twenty steps, the torch had shrunk greatly and was struggling to survive.

The terrifying wind was growing ever more frenzied.

Cheol Ryu-heun, by the light of the flame that seemed about to go out any moment, gently untied the rope around his waist and retied it to a pointed rock on the ground beside him.

‘Now, deeper inside…’

Cheol Ryu-heun’s purpose was simple and clear.

Absorption of the energy here – that is, using his body as a vessel to contain all the demonic and celestial energy that had mixed unstably with his former divine power and take it out.

In other words, compressing it into a condensed state within his body like a kind of inner pill.

Something no other person could even dare attempt – but he believed that with this mysterious body, storing those mixed energies in pill form was possible.

If he utilized that separately to create virtual meridians going forward, it would reduce the burden of internal injury from finely splitting his true energy.

If he completed all of that, he could also break down some wall that was suppressing his martial advancement.

Previously, his body had been completely unaffected by the ghost energy of the Ghost Skull Divine Armor, so he was confident he could fully handle the energy lurking here as well.

PIFF-

The torch finally went out.

Cheol Ryu-heun, narrowing his eyes, walked forward while operating his ultimate internal energy.

BOOM-!

Pressure enveloping his entire body.

His bones and flesh tingled.

He could guess why Taoist Cheon Mu hadn’t been able to advance more than twenty steps before.

The oppressive force created by the collision of pure celestial energy and dark demonic energy was at a truly fearsome level.

It felt like being forcibly dragged into endless chaotic darkness.

But.

Cheol Ryu-heun’s two feet did not stop.

STEP, STEP, STEP…

Instead, his forward pace noticeably slowed.

How long had he walked?

Though he couldn’t see it with his eyes, waves of demonic and celestial energy stacked layer upon layer crashed violently over his entire body.

RUMBLE… RUMBLE…

“Urgh!”

Cheol Ryu-heun inadvertently let out a short groan.

Because with the energy wildly surging in the company of darkness, immense pain as if his entire body was being torn apart piece by piece assailed him.

‘Ughhh… This is fierce.’

At that moment.

Suddenly, in the pitch-black space before him, white and red energy lights bloomed large and soon transformed into the shapes of four people.

Three pure white and one blood red.

The roughly human-shaped lights began crossing swords with each other.

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG…!

Cheol Ryu-heun immediately understood what it was.

It was clearly the Blood Demon of the past and the Three Sages of Mount Heng.

Of course, it was an illusion.

Since this place had been designated a forbidden zone where no one could enter, Cheol Ryu-heun was probably the first to see such a mysterious vision.

‘It’s completely like the workings of a formation.’

Due to the action of the unfathomable power of the underlying divine energy, the demonic and celestial energies were continuously creating strange illusions.

Suddenly.

THOOM!

Tremendous pressure crushed down on Cheol Ryu-heun’s body.

“Urrgh!”

From the sharply increased pain, he let out another agonized groan and fell to his knees on the cave floor.

He simply could not remain standing on two legs.

‘Let’s see what you’ve got!’

Cheol Ryu-heun gritted his teeth, forcibly raised his body, closed his eyes and felt the flow of energy filling this space.

He was dizzy.

It felt like he would fall into qi deviation if he didn’t keep his mind absolutely straight.

Black wind and white wind wrapped around his body.

Somehow it felt that way.

‘Step by step.’

Having steadied his breathing, he focused his mind and followed the orthodox process of spiritual cultivation.

Gathering Spirit and Assembling Mind.

First, compose the spirit and gather it in one place.

One Heart One Intent, Heart Without Distraction, Holding Breath Concentrating Spirit, Heart Without Two Hearts Divine Art Use, everything revolving in his head becoming one… The so-called selfless state of Wholly Spirit Concentrated.

Done.

Not difficult.

Now advance to Refining Essence into Energy.

Refining essence and transforming it into energy that can be freely controlled.

But he had no dantian.

Instead, he was using his entire body to operate those essentials.

Refining Essence into Energy through a completely new method that never existed before, ignoring the existence of a dantian.

Only he could do it.

A long time passed.

Finally, the chaotic energy that had been flowing around his body was organized strand by strand, becoming clearly readable.

Next is Refining Energy into Spirit, controlling energy and attempting to transform it into spirit.

Time stopped.

No.

Cheol Ryu-heun forgot the flow of time because of it.

The pain of the body was no longer an issue.

The selfless state transcending the limits of the mortal world literally – that could be called the state of Stopping at the Ultimate.

A transcendent realm beyond mere concentration.

The spiritual cultivation process that would take ordinary people decades was being drastically shortened.

Having unified Essence, Energy, and Spirit, Cheol Ryu-heun thus unconsciously absorbed the energy filling the chaotic space, strand by strand with speed.

HISSSSS, HISSSSS…

Following the essentials of Refining Energy into Spirit, he then advanced to Refining Spirit Returning to Void.

The higher-level process of refining spirit to reach the realm of nothingness was proceeding at an incomprehensibly rapid pace.

While in the selfless state, Cheol Ryu-heun absorbed all the demonic and celestial energy and compressed it into a transformed state like an inner pill.

Another long time passed.

“Suuup, huuuup.”

Having quietly exhaled, he finally opened his eyes.

‘Done!’

Within the demonic and celestial energy condensed into one inside his body, something like a fragment of divine power was being felt.

It was a success.

The pain throughout his body had subsided as if washed away, and this mysterious body showed absolutely no aftereffects.

Joy was visible in Cheol Ryu-heun’s indifferent eyes.

‘Good, it’s over. Now this energy will become excellent material for future martial advancement. Ha, shall I head outside now?’

The space that had been a forbidden zone denying access until now had returned to its original cave form.

However.

“Urgh!”

Cheol Ryu-heun’s face contorted.

Because the energy he had stored in small inner-pill form inside his body suddenly began to surge.

Immediately after.

BOOM!

A formless explosion occurred from inside his head.

The gathered energy had suddenly shot up and burst.

Before the enormous pain, he couldn’t even scream.

THUD-

Collapsing limply, he clutched his head and trembled uncontrollably.

At that moment, his entire body flushed bright red as if containing fire, and tremendous agony swept over him without cease.

“AAAAAGH… AAAAAAAGH…!”

As soon as the briefly suppressed scream burst out, the skin all over his body cracked like a turtle’s shell.

Along with a fishy smell, blood flowed in streams.

“GAHHHHH…!”

Face down on the floor, Cheol Ryu-heun swiftly moved the energy within his body even while struggling to maintain consciousness.

He intended to gather the energy that had spread throughout his body again and try to create virtual meridians with it.

His judgment proved accurate.

When he painstakingly gathered the energy spread through his body, it indeed formed the inner-pill shape like before.

‘Right now…!’

Cheol Ryu-heun gradually melted that energy and created the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and Twelve Primary Meridians one by one.

Yet.

It was too fast.

The speed at which the virtual meridians were being generated, compared to before…

The moment the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and Twelve Primary Meridians were completed in an instant, thunder-like vibrations occurred within his body.

RUMMMMMBLE-!

Then the skin that had flushed bright red returned to its original color, turning to gray dead skin and gradually falling away.

Along with that.

CRACK, CRACKLE, CRACK…

The bones inside his body collided and twisted chaotically with unpleasant sounds.

Cheol Ryu-heun could not hide the joy in his eyes despite the indescribably painful torment of flesh tearing and bones twisting.

Bone Replacement and Marrow Cleansing.

Finally, the second enlightenment.

If the first Bone Replacement and Marrow Cleansing had been a change focused on strengthening the body, this Bone Replacement and Marrow Cleansing was a change focused solely on power advancement.

To the extent that he could easily subdue martial artists on the level of Dark Hall Master Jeo Gyeom, who had died at his hand not long ago, without even exerting his ultimate power…

That wasn’t the end.

In the midst of shedding his outer layer and his bones moving, his soul felt as if it was leaving his body, then in an instant felt like it was being ground to powder.

Thrill.

He knew what that was.

Shattering-the-Void Realm.

To shatter the body, shatter the heart, shatter even the realm of nothingness, until like empty space one is unbound by any form in the world – the ultimate achievement of cultivation.

Shattering into Void accompanying Bone Replacement and Marrow Cleansing – truly a miraculous opportunity of fate.

The mysterious body unprecedented in martial world history was once again stepping into a new realm, evolving.

CRACK, SNAP, CRACKKK- CRACKLE, CRUNCH, CRUNCHHH-!

Cheol Ryu-heun laughed and laughed again even as his flesh tore and bones twisted.

But he did not know.

The fact that his two pupils were currently glowing with red radiance.