Chapter 365: A New Starting Point
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Cheol Ryu-heun, who had worn something like a smile at the corners of his mouth, soon regained his expressionless face and wiped his forehead with his sleeve.
Yet the sweat beads didn’t absorb into the clothes but rolled off as if sliding and dropped to wet the faded wooden floor.
This was because it was martial attire made from the outer skin of the Blood-Eyed Black Divine Python, which possessed the mystical application of being impervious to blades, water, and fire.
The sweat that had soaked the body inside the clothes was also naturally drawn out by the characteristic power of the shed skin.
SEUK.
Cheol Ryu-heun, having quietly raised his body, opened the door and stepped out into the outside yard.
A natural scenery full of freshness welcomed him.
A cool breeze strokes both cheeks as it passes, the chirping of birds twitter and tickles both ears, and the sparkling sunlight of morning brightly fills both eyes.
That stimulation awakened all the senses of his body.
As if teaching him that this was the world of reality, not a dream.
In the small yard and the field beyond it, here and there could be seen the figures of people lying quietly asleep.
Because the house wasn’t spacious, except for about twenty people, the rest had stayed outside like this.
All the guests were mixed among them, traveling through dreamland too.
It was a peaceful scene.
Cheol Ryu-heun recalled the scene in the dream that was the complete opposite of this.
The lingering impression from that virtual sparring had not yet faded.
Recalling the scene in the dream brought the tension back to life.
‘Although it was only virtual sparring… it was a chilling feeling.’
It was an encounter he had always pictured in his mind.
Though he had been in a dream, he knew well that it was a dream.
Because he had entered the dreamland while aware that it was virtual sparring.
All the conditions had been arbitrarily set by Cheol Ryu-heun himself.
Despite that, the ronin’s terrifying momentum came across so vividly as to be mistaken for reality.
It had been a far more intense confrontation than initially expected.
The investment of great Fighting spirit and blazing fierce will, so large and thick they couldn’t be put into words, seemed to clump together and sweep over heaven and earth.
Even the expression “the air of a superhuman” was insufficient.
Yes.
Perhaps, the dignity of an absolute divine being revered by all?
It was like a giant of unprecedented scale standing tall in a lofty posture amid tens of thousands of beasts baring their fangs and roaring…
‘But I too will follow. No, I will catch up… and climb higher than you, stomping on and crushing that head of yours as I stand tall.’
Cheol Ryu-heun, along with that resolution, slightly opened both shoulders and took a full breath.
“Seuup, huuu…”
When the fresh air penetrated through his nose, his mood became refreshed.
‘Now, shall I get going?’
Cheol Ryu-heun, having set off walking, soon approached the guests.
TUK.
He touched Namgung Sang-rin’s head with his toe.
“Stop lying there sleeping and wake up.”
Only then did Namgung Sang-rin, having awakened from sleep, rub his two eyes.
“Ah… It’s already morning.”
He soon woke up Hae Su-yeon, Cui Lan, Seol Pan-gyo, and Mae Yak-bang one after another.
At the rustling sounds, several other people also opened their eyes and stretched as they got up.
Among them, Byeok Song-ha tidied her hair and then looked at Cheol Ryu-heun to one side.
“Are you going now?”
“Yes. I don’t know how long it will take. For now, the expected completion time is afternoon.”
“Since it takes a considerable amount of time… there must also be danger involved?”
“Of course. But I won’t betray the trust of the multitude.”
“Hoot… Yes, I believe you will certainly succeed.”
Cheol Ryu-heun, having slightly nodded, strode forward as he spoke.
“Let’s go then. Please take the trouble again today.”
It was a meaning of entrusting the existing rescue activities.
“Yes, leave it to us. We will bring even one more person here.”
Cheol Ryu-heun, leaving those words behind, quickly disappeared with the guests.
* * *
Cheol Ryu-heun’s party left the forest and set foot in the meadow that was the Mystic Region.
“Wow… It’s different from at night.”
Cui Lan marveled while looking around here and there.
It was just as she said.
The exquisite scenery, different from night yet filling the view, spread out fully.
Was that why?
Despite an important task ahead, she didn’t feel nervous.
A peaceful feeling as she walked while looking at the colorful strange flowers and unusual grasses.
But everyone knew.
That such peace of mind was due to Cheol Ryu-heun’s Aura.
Absolute trust.
That’s right.
Just as Byeok Song-ha had said earlier, they too firmly believed that Cheol Ryu-heun would certainly accomplish it.
That was why each of them was not anxiously fretting.
Before long, the party arrived at their destination.
The mysterious place where about thirty gigantic ancient trees formed a circular formation.
Directly above that, floating in the air, was Martial Immortal Dongbang Ya’s soul energy fragment.
In the eyes of Namgung Sang-rin, Hae Su-yeon and others, its form still appeared differently to each.
“Take your positions around and wait.”
Having spoken thus, Cheol Ryu-heun entered the center of the ancient trees.
Entering his two eyes was an old man with the appearance of an immortal.
It was Martial Immortal Dongbang Ya from when he was alive.
He was emitting flashing light, creating a feeling as if a real immortal had appeared in this land.
In fact, it was similar in principle.
In the past, Dongbang Ya had twice postponed Feathered Transformation Feathered Ascension to Immortality, the ultimate enlightenment, at this place.
The remnant of those studies was precisely the soul energy fragment in the air.
His own unique immortal energy combined with the divine power of the Divine Martial Sword…
Cheol Ryu-heun, having regulated his breathing, muttered inwardly.
‘I’ve stood at a new starting point.’
Suddenly, the past floated into his mind.
The starting point of a new life, when he was reborn as the human Cheol Ryu-heun and headed for the cave of the Three Immortals Mountain to begin body remodeling work in earnest.
At first, he had really thought he had failed.
But he achieved success.
No.
It was more than simple success.
Because the destruction of the dantian was development and evolution unlike anything in history until now.
A wondrous and incomprehensible body with mystical applications that even the Heavenly Demon, Sword Emperor, Evil Emperor, Martial Immortal, and Blood God had never realized was born.
He believed it would be so today as well.
He had saved the incomplete divine power for this moment.
Therefore, he would certainly completely awaken the divine power and even improve his martial prowess level.
‘This body cannot be tempered by ordinary means.’
He had confirmed it again through the dream.
That tempering a special body required a special method.
‘The lump that formed inside the body is the key. This is undoubtedly mental power that was extremely depleted during the dream clumping together in a form similar to an inner elixir. Because the great natural energy composing this Ten Directions Ghost Road Lost Soul Formation exerted a mysterious influence… In any case, if I melt this at the end, I will gain power equivalent to having consumed various elixirs.’
In an instant, Cheol Ryu-heun’s eye light changed to red.
The operation of divine power.
First, he had to connect his body’s energy with the soul energy fragment.
With energy of the same nature.
In other words, meaning the energy unique to the Immortal Wandering Sword Energy, the supreme technique of Martial Immortal Dongbang Ya in which immortal energy and divine power had been unified.
KWAK!
When Cheol Ryu-heun held the Gan Jiang inverted and drove it into the ground, heat haze resembling white clouds billowed out and rose upward.
Simultaneously.
SEUSEUSEUSEU, SEUSEUSEUSEUSEUSEU…
The light with the appearance of an immortal scattered as if blown by the wind into powder, then soon clumped together large and round and rotated.
It was a change visible only to Cheol Ryu-heun’s two eyes.
Soon, the two energies connected as one.
‘Now!’
Having shouted inwardly, Cheol Ryu-heun created virtual Eight Extraordinary Meridians and Twelve Primary Channels one by one inside his body.
Thus, he quietly sank into a state of selfless absorption in the Heavenly Way.
* * *
The hour of the Dragon’s Beginning (7 AM).
The Zhejiang Son Family personnel, who had perfectly annihilated the enemies that had launched a night raid, began full-scale search activities.
Considerable time passed from then.
Around the time when the shining sunlight became even warmer, a party led by the Family Head Little Sword King Son Ja-ryong entered a forest path where shade fell thickly.
“This place happens to have dark shade. Let the sweat dry a bit.”
When Son Ja-ryong spoke thus, Zhuge Bi snickered.
“Hoot, no sense of tension. Shouldn’t one be wary of dark places?”
“They say the Darkness-Craving Blood Clan has disliked sunlight since ancient times, but surely…”
Son Ja-ryong stroked the Dragon Throne Sword hanging at his waist and continued speaking.
“If they appear before us again, we must cut them down and eliminate every last one. Even if that target is the chief of the Darkness-Craving Blood Clan. Bi, I declare, the martial artists under heaven who can defeat me do not exceed five. For now…”
In his manner, there was pride in his own martial prowess.
For now it’s five or so, but given more time, even the certainty that he would claim first place was visible.
Indeed, he was a man with ample qualifications for that.
He had already risen to become the hegemon of Zhejiang in his twenties, after all.
“You’re trustworthy.”
Zhuge Bi suddenly thought like this.
That his close friend Son Ja-ryong would be a likely candidate to become a hegemon commanding the entire Orthodox and Unorthodox Jianghu in the future.
Before long, a glen connected to the forest path appeared before them.
At that moment, Son Ja-ryong raised his left hand.
It was an arranged hand signal.
Simultaneously, the personnel forming the procession stopped.
Son Ja-ryong, having turned his head, quietly spoke.
“Just now… the smell of blood was mixed with the wind.”
At that, Zhuge Bi heightened his energy sense while operating Internal energy.
Sure enough.
‘He’s right.’
The scent of blood, thickened by the heightened senses amplified through ascension-essence internal energy arts, was detected.
Zhuge Bi pointed forward with his finger.
“It seems to be beyond that turning bend in the path.”
Son Ja-ryong, having flashed his two eyes, quickly took the lead.
“Let’s hurry and see.”
The Zhejiang Son Family party soon arrived at the source of the blood scent.
It was a place with a high and steep cliff as backdrop.
On one side of that, in the grassy area where a stream flowed, about a hundred corpses lay collapsed in disarray, bloodied.
Son Ja-ryong immediately furrowed his brow upon seeing that sight.
“Hmm…”
Subsequently, Zhuge Bi’s expression also slightly contorted.
“Horrific. Ja-ryong, as you see, they’re all martial artists.”
It was horrific just as he said.
Not only were limbs severed, but some had even their internal organs wildly gouged out.
“Bi, it seems they were attacked just like us. Moreover, those two are…”
Son Ja-ryong gestured with his chin toward two corpses.
Along with that, the crowd’s gazes turned in that direction.
“No way…!”
“This can’t be, they are…”
“Hmm… How unexpected.”
The crowd began to murmur.
It couldn’t be helped.
Because of the high name value of the two dead people.
Passionate Blood Sword Master Don Dae-deok, captain of Loyalty Literature Sword Corps, an Orthodox faction force within the Guizhou region, and Feather-Soaring Sword Elder Hwang Ji-hwan, master of Elegant Feather Martial Gate, an Orthodox faction force within the Sichuan region…
They couldn’t readily believe it.
To think ultra-first-rate martial artists of Three Upper Seats of Guizhou and Four Famous Hands of Sichuan rank had met their end.
The party discovered writing carved into the nearby cliff.
Son Ja-ryong immediately commanded his subordinate personnel.
“Everyone, thoroughly guard all four directions. Looking at this, they haven’t been dead for long. Undoubtedly it’s the work of the one who carved that message.”
“Yes.”
The elite sword squad of about three hundred, having answered in unison, constructed a defensive formation.
Suddenly, Zhuge Bi sensed something and whispered.
“I almost got fooled. Ja-ryong, those corpses are fake.”
“What…?”
“More precisely, they’re disguised as the Loyalty Literature Sword Corps Captain and Elegant Feather Martial Gate Master. Through wicked sorcery. The mystical application of a formation has been added as well.”
“…!”
Right at that moment, someone’s Secret Sound Transmission echoed loudly like an echo.
-The young one’s eye for detail isn’t bad.