Chapter 209: I Will Surely Achieve It
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The Heavenly Demon and Bodhidharma.
A mysterious and wondrous place where the symbolic energies of the Heavenly Demon and Bodhidharma, the great progenitors of demonic path martial arts and Buddhist martial arts, existed.
At the surprising secret history, Namgung Sang-rin and Hae Su-yeon felt awe.
Gal Jung-heon standing beside wasn’t much different.
-It’s a supernatural barrier formation. Created long ago when two transcendents fought.
He finally understood.
That the two ancient people Cheol Ryu-heun had mentioned were the Heavenly Demon and Bodhidharma.
Knowing that, everyone’s hearts fluttered slightly.
The Heavenly Demon was a hegemon of the Western Regions origin who was the first to conquer the martial world, and his reign lasted several decades.
Therefore, it wasn’t strange to think that traces from his lifetime remained like some kind of fortuitous encounter.
Even if such a place itself was unreal.
However.
What was puzzling was Cheol Ryu-heun.
How on earth had he come to grasp a location that had never been revealed for a full one thousand years, that no one knew about?
Hae Su-yeon immediately raised that point.
“Sect Leader Cheol, did you learn of this place through the cave’s fortuitous encounter too?”
At that, Cheol Ryu-heun, walking with his back turned, slightly turned his head.
“Asking while knowing.”
It meant his answer was the same as always.
“HOHO. Yes. It really is an all-purpose cave.”
Hae Su-yeon answered with a light smile and nodded.
She should just accept it.
After all, at this point, how important was that really?
“Please be careful. If you want to see my pretty face going forward.”
At Hae Su-yeon’s words, Namgung Sang-rin smirked.
“I don’t think you need to worry too much.”
A voice containing trust.
That’s right.
Cheol Ryu-heun was a person who didn’t know failure.
He had been proving that ever since they formed their connection.
Today was the same.
He had perfectly succeeded in punishing the wicked Severing Finger Sword Venerable So Cheon-ak just as he had boldly declared.
Hae Su-yeon knew that well too.
“My, of course I’m worried.”
“Pardon?”
“He’s my husband-to-be. In my heart.”
“Ah… You really say such embarrassing things well when others are listening.”
“Aing, how embarrassing. Without realizing it.”
“It’s too late to act shy.”
“HA. I was showing you. Do it like this.”
“What do you…?”
“Confess your love.”
Namgung Sang-rin flinched and his face reddened.
The object of his affection.
The eldest daughter of the Murong Household, Murong Seol.
Soon, Namgung Sang-rin averted his gaze with a flustered expression.
“Ah, th-that… I’ll handle on my own.”
“Later, send her something, writing or whatever. So she can know your heart. Love that isn’t expressed isn’t noticed. If you delay for no reason wanting to revive your household and someone else snatches her away, what then? So pre-emptively stake your claim like me.”
“That’s… It’s difficult since we’re childhood friends.”
“TSK, don’t be scared. It’s better than suffering in silence. The old saying goes that a brave chivalrous sect leader wins the beautiful Guest Retainer. It’s a famous saying about confession. Isn’t that right, Sect Leader Cheol? So please express yourself too, Sect Leader-nim. I’m ready to accept.”
“Young Lady Hae, that’s the first I’ve heard of such an old saying?”
“Go study.”
“…”
Meanwhile, Cheol Ryu-heun looked at those two as if they were pathetic, then extended his right hand to execute void grasping.
HWIIIIIK-
An object flying like a bird, drawn by formless force.
It was the shed skin of the Blood Wood Black Divine Python that Namgung Sang-rin had set down nearby.
Cheol Ryu-heun picked it up and walked toward the pond again while speaking.
“Wait quietly. It’s somewhat dangerous but I won’t fail.”
“Yes.”
The party answered in unison.
STEP BY STEP…
Before long, Cheol Ryu-heun, who had been walking, stopped at the water’s edge.
The sound of water bubbling where the differently colored waters collided reached his ears more loudly.
CHWARARARK-
Cheol Ryu-heun quickly unfurled the snake skin of Blood Wood Black Divine Python which had been rolled up like a small boulder.
Following that.
SEUK, SESEUK, SEUK-
He wrapped it around his body as if donning several layers of a large blood-colored cloak.
‘Shall I begin.’
Cheol Ryu-heun flashed his eyes and kicked off the ground.
PAK!
FLUTTER FLUTTER-
His form, having leaped high, instantly crossed the void and descended to the pistil at the center of the massive lotus.
SWAY.
The lotus swayed slightly, pressed by the weight.
This place where the Heavenly Demon and Bodhidharma first competed in the past was originally a secret realm where the energies of heaven, earth, and all nature converged.
Demon Buddha Secret Pool.
That was its primordial name.
At the time, Bodhidharma came to the Demon Buddha Secret Pool and created a sacred Buddhist power divine art harmonized with nature’s truth to block the rising demonic forces.
That was none other than the Vajra Immovable Divine Art, counted among the top supreme lost arts in orthodox faction martial history.
Demon Buddha Secret Pool’s water was so-called holy water.
Bodhidharma at that time steadily drank this water while repeatedly training his mind and tempering his body, and finally mastered the essence of the Heavenly Vajra Buddhist Energy, which harmonized supremely powerful Buddhist energy with the vital energy of all creation between heaven and earth.
And on that foundation, he obtained the enlightenment called Vajra Immovable Divine Art.
That’s when the Heavenly Demon had barged in.
Having belatedly discovered the existence of the secret realm called Demon Buddha Secret Pool, he sought to completely destroy it.
Thus the two competed for a full day.
At first, the Heavenly Demon was pushed back.
However,
Later, Bodhidharma was pushed back.
Because the Heavenly Demon awakened Divine Martial Sword’s dormant divine power during their exchange.
But Bodhidharma was also an unparalleled divine monk who achieved enlightenment of a new essence while fighting, and thus they ended in a draw at the conclusion.
Demon Buddha Secret Pool was engulfed in an explosion from both their energies.
At that time.
The massive lotus at the center of the round pond absorbed all the surrounding energy and imprisoned it beneath the water’s surface.
Afterward, the Demon Buddha Secret Pool rapidly transformed into what was now visible.
Black and yellow.
As if a split moon bore different colors and bubbled.
Seeing that, the Heavenly Demon and Bodhidharma reached an agreement.
They decided to seal it, judging that this secret realm created by nature’s order was a place that should not be carelessly handled by human power.
A secret place known only to the Heavenly Demon and Bodhidharma.
Thus was it created.
The barrier formation that completely concealed the gap-path in the cliff…
‘To think I’d come to use this. HA.’
Having smirked inwardly, he circulated his internal power, whereupon each broad petal of the pink lotus trembled.
Following that.
FLASH FLASH…
The aura the lotus had been emitting brightened further.
Namgung Sang-rin, Hae Su-yeon, and Gal Jung-heon slightly narrowed their brows, dazzled.
They were curious.
Just what Cheol Ryu-heun intended to achieve.
“How much stronger does he plan to become? He hasn’t even revealed his new power yet…”
Gal Jung-heon’s quiet murmur.
As he said.
Today, Cheol Ryu-heun had perfectly won while consecutively facing renowned martial world powerhouses without using that new power.
But then.
Was he still not satisfied with that?
Namgung Sang-rin, his gaze fixed on the pond, said.
“Martial God… Because he’s set that as his goal. Not Hunan’s Number One but All Under Heaven’s Number One.”
Hae Su-yeon standing beside added.
“He will surely achieve it.”
But then suddenly, the brightening light exploded HWAK.
SHUSHUSHUSHU…!
The bubbles that had lined the vast water surface in a straight line burst steam.
Following that, the entire pond bubbled furiously.
As if waiting for that, Cheol Ryu-heun covered even his feet and head with the wrapped snake skin of Blood Wood Black Divine Python.
Then, using void grasping, he tied the knots tight, transforming into something like a large cocoon.
Simultaneously.
PLUNK!
Along with the wildly swaying lotus, Cheol Ryu-heun sank into the pond.
“OH!”
Namgung Sang-rin’s exclamation.
It was an unexpected situation.
Hae Su-yeon and Gal Jung-heon also looked quite surprised.
“Is he… alright?”
At Hae Su-yeon’s quiet voice, Gal Jung-heon nodded.
“Of course.”
At the same time, Cheol Ryu-heun was regulating his breathing and circulating his vital energy.
‘Breathe slowly, circulate vital energy quickly.’
He wasn’t getting wet.
Thanks to wrapping his entire body in the snake skin of the Blood Wood Black Divine Python, which was said to have the wondrous ability to be impervious to blades and unsoakable by water.
He couldn’t see anything.
However,
He could feel.
That he was currently positioned at the center of the abyss where the demon and buddha energies collided.
TINGLE TINGLE.
Water didn’t seep in, but power was seeping in.
Cheol Ryu-heun created a phantom energy-blood system within his body.
He was now practicing enough to be fast.
Thus, completing the phantom energy-blood and circulating vital energy with the absorption formula.
‘KURGH…!’
The conflicting energies of the demon and buddha were simultaneously absorbed into his body and collided.
“AAAAAK!”
The screams that burst out circled, trapped in the abyss.
‘KURGH… This is fierce!’
But he mustn’t stop.
He must surely use the energies of the demon and buddha to achieve his ultimate purpose.
Cheol Ryu-heun, having gritted his teeth, focused his mind amid the agony and stepped into the world of the deepest level of meditation.
* * *
A cliff.
Three people could be seen crossing through a dark forest with no paths.
They were wearing dark blood-colored cloaks from head to toe.
Before long.
CLACK.
The three who had been quietly advancing stopped their steps.
The clothing visible through the black cloaks was neat.
Also,
It was the same.
All three were dressed identically to the cloaked figures who had appeared on the high cliff east of Cheomju – the destroyer of the Divine Martial Sword, the wanderer, and his subordinates.
The lead figure, wearing a round-brimmed bamboo hat pressed deep, quietly spoke.
“It’s changed. The scenery.”
At that, the two figures behind also nodded and said.
“Indeed.”
“Strange.”
This was a place they had passed through earlier.
But then.
The landscape had suddenly changed.
It wasn’t just today.
They had repeated their comings and goings countless times because of a special mission.
But never once until now had something like this happened.
The forward space, where primeval forest should have stretched, was filled with boulders, raising questions.
“Could it be…”
“Has someone come to this place?”
“It’s a place difficult for people to set foot in.”
Soon, one cloaked figure approached the boulders and reached out his hand.
In a flash.
SEUSEUSEUSEUSEUSEU…
The spot his hand touched rippled transparently like water, then expelled a PEO-NG sound along with a fierce repelling power.
However,
KWAKWAK!
The cloaked figure, having planted his legs firmly, easily withstood it with his body’s high internal power.
“It seems an illusory barrier formation has been activated!”
At his low shout, the two cloaked figures behind slightly hardened their expressions.
“An ancient fortuitous encounter location…!”
“Someone found the place we were looking for first?”
The cloaked figure who had reached out earlier generated a transparent energy membrane covering his whole body while circulating internal power.
“We break through.”
Immediately after, the other two cloaked figures also generated formless energy membranes.
“It will be a dangerous fortuitous encounter for us.”
“We must stop them.”
The cloaked figure in front radiated killing-intent eyes and spoke.
“Kill without exception.”
The three, having kicked off the ground with a TUNG, shot through the boulders generated by the illusory barrier formation like beams of light.
PEOPEOPEO-NG, PEOPEOPEO-NG…!