Chapter 185: Those Who Are Awakening
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A deep valley within Three Immortals Mountain.
Mun Bin, having climbed to the top of a steeply sheer cliff with a bundle on his back, quietly looked down below.
A shadowy forest was visible far below.
Being a place situated between precipices high enough to make one’s eyes spin, there was no path in or out.
Moreover, sunlight barely reached it, giving it a somewhat eerie feeling.
‘It’s too high…’
It was a place that could only be reached by scaling the cliff.
But still.
He had to go.
Because that was the final destination.
-There’s a secret ground far away at the Three Immortals Mountain. I’ll draw you a map, so go there and achieve it.
-A secret ground?
-An underground space called Wickedness-Extreme Black Ground.
-What kind of place is that?
-You’ll know when you get there.
Words Cheol Ryu-heun had said.
That’s right.
Wickedness-Extreme Black Ground was located in the forest at the bottom of the cliff.
True Ink Heaven Meridians.
A rare constitution that had only appeared about twenty times in the long history of martial arts… It was a place of fortuitous encounters that would help in awakening that latent potential to the perfected level.
-Well, it seems like you just need to push hard for one day there… If contact is cut off, I’ll assume you’re dead.
-……
Mun Bin smirked as he recalled those words.
‘I will definitely awaken True Ink Heaven Meridians perfectly and return.’
Having raised his internal energy, he soon headed downward, grasping and stepping on the stones protruding from the steep cliff surface.
* * *
‘This is the place!’
Mun Bin discovered a cave leading underground.
Wickedness-Extreme Black Ground.
It matched the place drawn on the map.
Taking out a prepared lantern and flint from his bundle, he lit it and strode into that pitch-black cave.
The interior, which sloped downward, wasn’t very wide.
However,
It was so long its end could not be seen.
All that filled his dark brown eyes were stalactites of various forms hanging in strange shapes.
But then.
At some moment, Mun Bin’s expression completely changed.
Because along with a thread of cold wind, an unidentifiable unpleasant evil energy rushed in as if binding his entire body.
‘URGH!’
It was awful.
Goosebumps rose.
It even felt as if countless invisible evil spirits were surrounding from all sides and forming some kind of formation.
But Mun Bin’s bewilderment subsided in an instant.
‘The strange phenomena written in the scroll I received from Sect Master Cheol…’
It was a sinister energy that affected the mind.
The illusions that were gradually flickering were proof of that.
They were becoming clearer.
Countless illusions.
Ghosts harboring evil energy.
Each had such a gruesome appearance that he wanted to close his eyes tight.
However, having recalled Cheol Ryu-heun’s advice in the scroll, he walked forward quickly while concentrating his mind to not be deluded by these illusions.
‘My heart must not waver!’
Because if he got caught up in the illusions of evil energy here and wandered around as if lost, that would be the moment qi deviation began.
STEP, STEP, STEP, STEP…
It was an unprecedented cave where the more he walked, the more the evil energy increased.
Having raised his true energy to the fullest, Mun Bin continuously advanced, letting the illusions of various evil spirits brush past on either side as they kept shaking his mind.
‘The pressure is considerable.’
A space that imposed mental suffering rather than physical suffering.
How far did he advance like that?
‘Ah!’
Before Mun Bin who had finally reached a dead end, a stone door stood firmly in place.
An artificial stone door appearing inside a natural cave full of evil energy – this was a sign of a fortuitous encounter.
It had truly been long.
Both the cave and the time…
Mun Bin forcefully ignored the illusions of evil spirits that were still disturbing his vision and pushed hard on the stone door.
But then.
‘HUH!’
It wouldn’t budge.
Was a different method needed?
‘I’ll just force it open!’
He placed his palm on the stone door’s surface and immediately released energy.
PANG-!
Simultaneously, his body retreated as if bounced away.
‘UGH, what?’
Unexpected repelling force.
Flustered by the stone door’s sturdiness, he approached again and executed a palm technique.
Supreme-level internal energy.
PAPANG-!
But there was no result.
Far from breaking it, not even a scratch was made.
‘Ha, what is this…! This is troublesome. Sect Leader Cheol didn’t explain anything about this…’
Suddenly, pain occurred in his left shoulder.
BURNING!
Mun Bin was shocked.
Because he saw an Evil Spirit biting his shoulder with sharp teeth before his eyes.
It was an illusion.
There were no wounds or blood whatsoever.
Then what did the burning pain mean?
‘OH NO!’
It was the effect of the evil energy, which had grown even stronger at the cave’s end, unconsciously shaking his mind.
In other words, that pain was generated by something mental, not physical.
From that point on, countless illusions of evil spirits clung indiscriminately from head to toe.
“GRRRRGH…!”
They were biting, tearing, stabbing, and scratching, making it impossible to maintain consciousness.
With his heart sinking, Mun Bin hastily groped the stone door and its surroundings even as his entire body was in pain.
Perhaps there was some opening mechanism.
Then.
“AAAAHH!”
With a sharp sound, he collapsed to the floor.
The pain was too extreme.
Now it felt like even his heart meridian was being strongly shaken.
‘GRK… Am I going to die like this!’
He trembled violently for a long while, unable to bear the pain, when suddenly his eyes changed.
-When the latent potential of True Ink Heaven Meridians awakens at the perfected level, the divine power of the Ink God Robe also awakens at the perfected level alongside it.
-Ah! The scale energy and fire energy…
-Right. For now, after strengthening the meridians throughout your body, you just need to open the subtle and dormant meridians to complete it. The pain will be extreme though.
-Yes, I’ll do whatever it takes! Sect Leader Cheol! If only I can fully awaken this power!
-Well, nothing else seems necessary. Just succeed by implementing the great method of consuming various medicinal herbs.
The conversation he had had with Cheol Ryu-heun.
Having recalled that, Mun Bin immediately rummaged through his bundle.
‘Extreme pain… GRRK… In that case, the time to implement the great method isn’t after entering that stone chamber, but now!’
Having judged so, he took out all the various spiritual medicines he had obtained at that time, chewed and swallowed them, then barely managed to sit cross-legged.
‘UGH… My head is spinning. But… If I give up it’s over.’
A crisis situation requiring superhuman mental strength and patience.
Mun Bin, having barely composed himself amid the terrible pain, closed his eyes, regulated his breathing, and began to practice Energy Circulation.
Following exactly the great method implementation techniques written in the scroll…
* * *
Approximately a shichen later.
Mun Bin finally overcame the difficulty and welcomed change.
TSUUT, TSUTSUT… TOK, TOTOK…
His form, wrapped in the navy-blue energy flow symbolizing Dark Hall’s martial arts, continuously played faint sounds.
It was the sound of subtle and dormant meridians opening after all the meridians in his body had been strengthened.
Finally reaching the end, Mun Bin regulated his breathing, ended his meditation, and gently opened his eyes.
‘It’s incredible!’
Energy filled his body.
It was a new power he had never felt before.
That’s right.
He had perfectly awakened the True Ink Heaven Meridians.
‘I did it! I…’
His heart swelled.
Now if he used this body’s ability, the divine power latent in the Ink God Robe would also awaken to the perfected level.
The unpleasant evil energy that had filled this long underground cave had somehow completely disappeared.
No… More precisely, that sinister energy no longer had any effect.
‘I see. The unique power of this place, Wickedness-Extreme Black Ground, is to verify the level of one’s enlightenment…’
Suddenly, a face flashed through his mind.
A mysterious figure who gave off a feeling of being indifferent to everything, emotionless, insensitive – as if regarding all worldly affairs as trivial and bothersome.
‘Sect Leader Cheol! Thanks to Sect Leader Cheol, I have completed this difficult study. I am truly grateful!’
He had received the saving of his life, and on top of that received help with his enlightenment.
In truth, compared to that, the pledge of loyalty that was the price for this matter was merely a small repayment.
CLENCH!
Mun Bin clenched his fist and pledged again and again inwardly.
That from now on, he would not refuse any matter for his sake – that this was the true path of repaying grace.
Just at that moment.
GRUMBLE-
The stone door in front that had refused to budge suddenly opened smoothly.
‘HUH!’
Startled, Mun Bin felt the cold energy lurking abundantly within the space beyond that stone door.
‘What is this cold energy? Hmm, let’s go inside!’
Picking up the lantern that had fallen on the floor, he carefully moved his steps toward the interior.
When he shone the light forward, a rectangular stone chamber revealed itself.
It was cold.
As if midwinter.
Indeed, there were even icicles formed all around.
Immediately after.
FLINCH.
Mun Bin, looking ahead, hesitated in his movements.
Because he saw a person quietly sitting on a square platform in the center.
But there was no presence.
‘A corpse?’
Going close and shining the light, the appearance of a person with a thin layer of ice came into his eyes.
His guess was correct.
It was an elderly person who had died while seated in meditation.
Something about it was extraordinary.
Because even though they’re a dead person, a solemn bearing emanated from them.
‘Hmm, who is it…’
Mun Bin tilted his head and unconsciously moved the lantern in his hand to the side, when he discovered an inscription carved on one corner of the platform.
‘MY GOD! How can this be!’
A gaze rippling like waves.
That clearly engraved inscription was the alias and name of a supreme master who had made a name two hundred years ago during the Age of the Blood God’s Reign as one of the top ranks in the unorthodox martial world.
-Ghost Fire Sword God, Jong Ri-yung
‘My goodness! To think that he, who was the last to possess the Ink God Robe, came to such a deep place to sleep…!’
* * *
Inner chamber.
Tae Sa-ja was sitting cross-legged on one side of the floor, in the process of learning Energy Circulation, the entrance to internal energy cultivation.
Two shichen passed like that.
With beads of sweat forming on his forehead, he was struggling as hard as he could to concentrate his mind and build energy in his lower dantian.
As the saying goes, sincerity moves heaven.
‘Ah!’
Tae Sa-ja, having let out a short inner cry, felt a small amount of energy being generated in his dantian and splitting into thin strands.
‘Is this what they call true energy!’
Joyful, he built and built energy.
Though it was a level that couldn’t be called much compared to ordinary martial artists, for someone who had just taken their first steps, it was an incomparably great achievement.
But then.
The energy in his dantian that had been steadily building up suddenly swelled as if going wild and tingled through his body.
‘GASP!’
Startled, Tae Sa-ja didn’t know what to do and panicked, then just surrendered his body to the flow of energy.
His breathing became rapid.
It was hot.
A feeling like a fireball was surging inside his body.
Before long, the energy in his dantian circled several times quickly through the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and Twelve Primary Meridians, then entered the sea of energy point and delivered a shiver.
‘WOW! I can feel it! That tremendous power has dwelt within…’
It was an incomprehensible phenomenon.
For such great energy to stir within the body of one who had barely set foot in the basic process…
Suddenly.
FLASH!
A dark red haze rose at the crown of his head and exploded.
That wasn’t the end.
The countless pressure points throughout his body also released dark red haze, and it burst out as if causing small explosions.
Blood Star Physique.
It was the phenomenon of the latent potential of that rare constitution awakening, as if following in the footsteps of Helian Ryung, who had made his name as a martial world hegemon about eighty years ago.
Tae Sa-ja was completely unaware.
That Cheol Ryu-heun had already executed the great method necessary for completing the Blood Star Physique and made him consume an Elixir Pill.
While Tae Sa-ja was displaying such mysterious phenomena, a figure appeared without even a hint of presence.
‘It’s begun.’
It was Cheol Ryu-heun.
SWISH.
Having moved quietly to sit at a table on one side, he watched Tae Sa-ja, who was deeply immersed in Energy Circulation, and smirked inwardly.
‘Ha. A yaksha maddened by blood will soon make a name for itself.’