Chapter 173: What Cannot Be Obtained For Free
Cheol Ryu-heun was the first to finish dinner and immediately came to his office and picked up a brush.
SWISH, SWIIISH, SWISH…
As a fairly thick ink fragrance spread, the blank pages of the booklet were quickly covered one after another with jet-black characters.
A bit of time passed like that.
TAP-
Having finished writing, Cheol Ryu-heun placed the brush on the inkstone beside him and murmured.
“Rather humble for a master’s work.”
What he had just written was the essence of the Ten Supreme Commanding Energy Flying Swords technique that Magistrate Ju Yu-gang had wanted.
The true transmission of Sword-Commanding Hegemon King Tae Hwan, a transcendent powerhouse who had pacified the unorthodox martial world with his sword-controlling techniques one hundred eighty years ago.
However, he hadn’t left behind a disciple to inherit his martial arts in the past.
Therefore, after his death, the essence of the Ten Supreme Commanding Energy Flying Swords technique was naturally lost.
Cheol Ryu-heun had perfectly restored it.
It wasn’t a difficult task.
Sword-Commanding Hegemon King Tae Hwan had, at that time, shared a friendship transcending factions with Cloud-Piercing Sword Paragon Xiahou Zu, the orthodox supreme master who owned the Divine Martial Sword, and they also frequently had sword discussions to complement each other’s martial arts.
That’s why he remembered everything.
The essence of Ten Supreme Commanding Energy Flying Swords, the supreme sword technique that Tae Hwan had devised.
The moment Cheol Ryu-heun stifled a yawn and stretched, he sensed someone’s presence beyond the door.
Sure enough.
CLICK.
The lattice door opened to both sides and a young man appeared.
It was Namgung Sang-rin.
Seeing his sleeve was wet, he seemed to have come here right after helping clean up the dining hall.
“Shall we begin then?”
With those words, Cheol Ryu-heun gestured with his chin toward the simple bed arranged on one side of the office.
“You want me to lie down there?”
“Yes, with your upper garments off.”
At Cheol Ryu-heun’s indifferent voice, Namgung Sang-rin quickly bared his upper body and headed for the simple bed.
“I said earlier. Something big is coming.”
“Yes, you did say that. That I’d know when I came here…”
“Meaning pain and achievement. That’s what i meant by big.”
“Ah…”
Only then did Namgung Sang-rin realize.
That the achievement he was about to obtain was of such an exquisite level that it would be accompanied by pain that was hard to bear.
Well, that was how worldly affairs were.
Nothing comes easily.
Especially, a martial artist’s true embodiment is a price and reward given only to those who have endured the hard times with perseverance, focus, effort and such.
“It will hurt quite a bit.”
Judging by the way Cheol Ryu-heun spoke, it seemed to be no ordinary suffering.
Nevertheless.
CLENCH.
Namgung Sang-rin made a resolution while lying down and clenching his fists.
He could do it. No, he had to do it.
He deeply engraved in his mind again and again that mindset was more important than anything.
At that moment, more words entered his ears.
“I was the same.”
Namgung Sang-rin’s gaze was drawn by that voice to Cheol Ryu-heun’s face.
‘Yes, Sect Master Cheol too…’
An expressionless person who seemed to understand all the principles under heaven, and furthermore bestowed gentleness and tranquility as if having reached a transcendent state of enlightenment.
Looking at that, Namgung Sang-rin felt it.
That such a nihilistic presence that not just anyone could possess was definitely not a product obtained for free.
Right.
It must have been accompanied by tremendous pain.
It was absolutely not an achievement that could simply be dismissed as “a fortuitous encounter touched by heaven’s luck.”
Cheol Ryu-heun soon opened the door of a storage cabinet next to the desk and took out an acupuncture case while thinking.
‘You don’t know. How I obtained this power.’
He had spent a full thousand years.
That long, vast time without even knowing his origin or reason for existence…
It had been boring.
A sword was just a sword – he couldn’t move as he wished.
He had lived trapped in time whose end he didn’t know.
It was a bitter fate where his path changed depending on who his owner was.
Perhaps any ordinary person would have gone mad, unable to bear such eternal boredom.
His current martial knowledge was the price for enduring that painful time – a life without choices.
Cheol Ryu-heun, standing by the bed holding the acupuncture case, cleared his thoughts and spoke in a quiet voice.
“Ready?”
Immediately after, Namgung Sang-rin answered with a determined expression.
“Yes! Sect Master Cheol.”
“I’ll say it again – it will hurt. Well, not as much as when I achieved Bone Replacement and Marrow Cleansing. Now there’s one important part.”
“Yes… Not losing consciousness, correct?”
“You know well.”
Cheol Ryu-heun responded indifferently, placed the acupuncture case beside the pillow, rolled up his sleeves, and began pulse diagnosis using internal energy cultivation.
After a while.
TOK, TOTOK… TOK…
Faint sounds like small bubbles popping were heard continuously.
It was the sound of some acupoints that Cheol Ryu-heun had secretly closed earlier opening one by one.
In truth, that exquisite technique was the Heart-Returning Meridian-Blocking Art of Celestial Sword Sovereign Beom Gyu, who had been famous for his unparalleled medical skills about four hundred years ago – it typically displayed an outstanding function in secretly blocking an opponent’s energy flow.
The reason Cheol Ryu-heun had used it earlier was to delay the effects of the various spiritual medicines that had entered Namgung Sang-rin’s body.
With the purpose of suppressing it to the maximum and then exploding that energy.
Because that way, the latent potential of Nine Grade Martial Bones would be completely triggered.
Removing his hands, Cheol Ryu-heun spoke briefly.
“Calm your breath first.”
Namgung Sang-rin regulated his inhales and exhales with a tense expression.
“Now the efficacy of the various spiritual medicines will explode.”
“Then should I stay like this? What about Energy Circulation…?”
“No, you must not rashly operate internal energy. Just endure.”
Having spoken thus, Cheol Ryu-heun opened the lid of the acupuncture case.
During his lifetime, Celestial Sword Sovereign Beom Gyu had created a medical scripture consisting of five volumes, and using the wondrous acupuncture techniques recorded therein as reference, he intended to induce the successful triggering of Nine Grade Martial Bones’ latent potential.
Large and small needles were inserted into the upper body’s acupoints.
‘AH! It’s coming!’
Namgung Sang-rin felt something hot spreading through his body and clenched both hands tightly.
Having finally finished the task, Cheol Ryu-heun gave a chin gesture and spoke.
“Nine Grade Martial Bones focuses on bodily transformation. That’s why physical pain necessarily follows.”
Originally, the lower dantian displays the function of energy strengthening, the middle dantian displays the function of body strengthening, and the upper dantian displays the function of spiritual strengthening.
In other words.
The place where Nine Grade Martial Bones’ latent potential awakens is the middle dantian.
In contrast, Hae Su-yeon’s Heavenly Demon Incarnation had its latent potential dwelling in the upper dantian, so it had the characteristic of greater mental exhaustion instead of physical pain.
Before long.
THUD.
Namgung Sang-rin’s chest lightly bounced up once.
“Uggh… Uggghhh…”
Anguished sounds leaked between his lips.
The beginning of pain.
Blood vessels expanded.
KRRRK, KRRRK…
Sinews like a swarm of earthworms suddenly bulged from his skin and writhed.
THUD.
His chest bounced upward once more.
Namgung Sang-rin, biting down hard on his molars to endure the pain, felt as if his entire body was being hooked and ripped apart.
His mind went hazy.
Though he had prepared himself after hearing Cheol Ryu-heun’s words, he hadn’t expected such terrible pain to assault him.
Before he knew it, large beads of sweat were pouring down like rain.
TREMBLE, TREMBLE…
His entire body convulsed incessantly, expressing the terrifying agony.
Cheol Ryu-heun watched that sight and smirked.
‘Just like back then.’
Throughout martial history, only three martial artists with Nine Grade Martial Bones had appeared.
The first of them was none other than Sword Emperor Buk Ga-sin, the strongest master of his era who owned the Divine Martial Sword eight hundred years ago.
The painful process Namgung Sang-rin was undergoing now was precisely the effect of carrying on his experience and knowledge exactly.
No.
It was a method that had been further developed by combining Celestial Sword Sovereign Beom Gyu’s medical knowledge on top of the existing one.
Something no one else could possibly do – that only he could.
That’s why there was no failure.
However.
Namgung Sang-rin had to endure well until the end for it to be possible.
But.
He believed.
In the outstanding aptitude of the martial prodigy who was a direct bloodline of the Namgung Family.
Heaven must have given him such a body for good reason.
In an instant.
Namgung Sang-rin’s mouth gaped wide open and a long scream rang out sharply.
“GAAAAAHHH! GAAAAAAAAHHH!”
Time flowed and flowed like that until about a quarter hour had passed.
Cheol Ryu-heun, standing beside him, casually tossed out an indifferent voice.
“Great pain covers small pain. The time has come.”
The moment the words ended, his hands moved busily.
TATAK- TAK- TATAK-!
The dozens of needles embedded in the body were pressed deep by his palms.
Simultaneously, Namgung Sang-rin rolled his eyes back and convulsed from unspeakable horrific pain.
He couldn’t even scream.
His mind went so hazy that he felt like he would immediately lose consciousness.
But.
CLENCH!
Clenching his fists tight and biting his lips hard, he struggled somehow to maintain consciousness.
Suddenly.
A quiet thread of Secret Sound Transmission entered and lodged in his ear.
<The Namgung Family has not perished. Does location matter? Where your body and mind reside is essentially no different from the Namgung Family.>
It was Cheol Ryu-heun.
Namgung Sang-rin’s eyes, having suddenly regained clarity, recovered their focus.
‘GRK… I can… Do it!’
Recalling the misfortune his great family’s bloodline had faced and his own fate, he focused on enduring the pain.
Suddenly, the faces he missed flashed through his mind.
Father, Mother, and his only younger brother…
Following that, he recalled what Namgung Heon-rin had said when they parted ways a few years ago.
-You have always been the pillar of my life, hyung. Don’t forget that. And that even though our bodies are apart, our hearts are always together…
He wasn’t alone.
He had a dependable younger brother.
Right, he would accomplish this splendidly, and when he later saw that kid, he would show him a bright smile.
He made resolution after resolution.
That he would definitely rebuild the family.
That no matter how heavy the burden on his shoulders, he would not bend the will in his heart.
Suddenly the convulsions decreased.
His superhuman patience – that indomitable mental strength – had finally begun to dominate even the physical pain.
Cheol Ryu-heun prepared to strike acupoints while operating internal energy.
“We’ve reached the final stage.”
It wasn’t ordinary acupoint striking.
He intended to deploy a lost life-saving technique of the previous martial generation.
That was the Eight Immortals Great Life-Saving Hands, devised by the Martial Immortal Dongbang Ya, a disciple of the Celestial Sword Sovereign Beom Gyu.
Medical techniques using internal energy cultivation to infuse life energy and stabilize the body’s condition – it was a supreme-level study that could be called the undisputed best among them.
Cheol Ryu-heun pulled out the countless needles and then deployed the Eight Immortals Great Life-Saving Hands.
First, Yin-Yang Returning Hands, which displayed the function of correcting energy that had become chaotic from continuous pain.
PAK, PAPAK, PAK…!
Following that, Cheol Ryu-heun executed White Immortal Life-Saving Hands that organized the acupoints.
At that moment, Namgung Sang-rin felt a vast energy expand his sea of energy point in the lower dantian, then travel up his central channel to settle in the vital point at the center of his middle dantian.
His eyes closed naturally.
Instead of terrible pain, sweet pleasure assaulted him.
Cheol Ryu-heun’s hands didn’t rest.
PAPAK, PAK, PAPAK…!
Thus, when he had bestowed all the remaining techniques of the Eight Immortals Great Life-Saving Hands – Vine Growth Life-Saving Hands, Mysterious Web Life-Saving Hands, Feng Shui Life-Saving Hands, Reaching Heaven Life-Saving Hands, Great Oneness Life-Saving Hands, and Cycle of Bone Replacement and Marrow Cleansing Life-Saving Hands – Namgung Sang-rin’s body became wrapped in a mysterious radiance like starlight and floated up.
FLASH-
The radiance spread as if the starlight had exploded.
‘Ah…!’
Namgung Sang-rin soon experienced a tingling shiver spreading from head to toe and was certain.
That he had fully unlocked the Nine Grade Martial Bones’ potential.
Cheol Ryu-heun, having gone to sit in a chair, watched that sight and slightly raised the corner of his mouth.
Namgung Sang-rin with Nine Grade Martial Bones and Hae Su-yeon with Heavenly Demon Incarnation had reached a level where, even if they went out and were active in the martial world right now, they would have no shame in being called the greatest among rising masters.
‘With this, our Sect now has two rare prodigies who will rise above the Sword Emperor and Sword Empress.’
A tiger with wings was silently soaring.
Here.
At White Peak Sword Sect.