Chapter 146: Chapter 146
Cheon-hwi faced the Third Plum Blossom Gate.
As soon as he entered, he saw the energy flowing around him and a single path of life visible to his eyes.
Cheon-hwi moved three or four steps in each direction, east, west, south, and north without delay, and found the path of life of the formation installed in this gate.
However, Cheon-hwi deliberately stepped into the path of death instead of the path of life.
At that moment.
Crack-
A terrible pressure crushed his body.
At the same time, his blood vessels and internal energy began to run wild, and his entire body screamed.
“Yeah, wouldn’t it be great if it was like this?”
Cheon-hwi’s mouth tore horizontally into a smile.
This was what he wanted.
What good would it do if it was only safe?
Shouldn’t such danger also accompany it so that they would recognize the importance of the gate!
Craaack!
The pressure grew even fiercer.
Even so, Cheon-hwi remained calm.
A moment later, Cheon-hwi, having sufficiently tasted the pressure of the path of death, drew up his Plum Blossom Divine Art and crushed the entire formation.
Creeeak-
Then, along with a bizarre sound, a crack began to form in the space.
Craaash!
The formation shattered.
“This place is very good.”
Cheon-hwi nodded.
Killing Demon Gate and Ghost Demon Gate!
This was precisely the place where the third and fourth gates of the Ten Heavenly Demon Gates were combined.
The Killing Demon Gate was a gate where one had to survive self-sufficiently for half a month with only a single day’s worth of rations, and its notoriety was widespread.
What would those words mean?
It meant that it was a gate where they had to kill and be killed by each other in order to survive.
And what about the Ghost Demon Gate?
It was a gate that toyed with a person’s mind, a gate collaborated on by the Bewitching Demon Faction, one of the eight factions of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
Physical pain, mental pain.
This was exactly what had properly melted into the Righteous Faction while maintaining its viciousness.
It was a perfect formation to feel the pain of the mind and body.
“If they can’t find the gate of life, they will fall into hallucinations and continue to starve, and if they enter the gate of death by mistake, they will writhe in this pain.”
As Cheon-hwi looked at the Third Plum Blossom Gate with a satisfied expression, the door opened.
* * *
Fwoosh-
The third lamp lit up.
Zhuge Seong-hyeon was terrified.
A cup of tea’s time? No, what do you mean a cup of tea’s time!
Before he could even boil tea, Cheon-hwi had completely passed through to the third gate of the Seven Plum Blossom Gates.
“…T-this is impossible even for my older brother. No, not just my older brother…”
He swallowed the words he was about to say in that moment.
There were words that came to mind, but they were not to be spoken.
“N-no. Still, the Fourth Plum Blossom Gate is completely different from the gates up until now.”
His hands trembled finely.
At the same time, he watched the lamp that would light up when the next, Fourth Plum Blossom Gate was passed.
“Even so, this amount of time is…”
He didn’t know if it was the Fourth Plum Blossom Gate.
The previous gates could be passed if one had excellent foundational skills, but from the Fourth Plum Blossom Gate onwards, martial arts skills had to support it…
At that moment.
Fwoosh-
The fourth lamp lit up.
“…”
Zhuge Seong-hyeon was at a loss for words.
* * *
Cheon-hwi, who was walking towards the door leading to the Fifth Plum Blossom Gate, glanced behind him.
“There’s no need to touch this place either.”
Since he had personally worked on it, there was absolutely nothing to modify in the Fourth Plum Blossom Gate.
Footwork, Sword Art, Hand technique, Palm Art, etc…
Cheon-hwi had mechanisms and formations installed so that they could learn the martial arts of the Mount Hua Sect.
In the case of footwork, one had to leave footprints to cross, and in the case of Sword Art or Hand technique, one had to move exactly like the left marks…
The intention was simple.
Just learn martial arts properly.
“If they can’t even pass here, they will make a fuss trying to learn martial arts out of sheer embarrassment.”
It was preposterous to pass the other gates but fail to pass the gate regarding the martial arts of the Mount Hua Sect.
“Then now it’s the Fifth Plum Blossom Gate…”
The eyes of the whispering Cheon-hwi changed.
From the fifth gate onwards, the nature was completely different from before.
If before it was the foundation for physical strengthening and martial arts, now it was not.
At that moment.
“This fragrance is…?”
A familiar plum blossom fragrance stimulated his nose.
Whoosh-
Illusions of countless plum blossoms fluttered before his eyes, and the surrounding scenery completely changed.
The cavern disappeared.
Instead, only clouds and peaks existed.
As Cheon-hwi stood on the peak, plum blossom petals fluttered and encroached upon his vision.
The plum blossom petals, covering even the clouds, were creating a beautiful path.
“Is this the Returning Benevolence Ten Thousand Formation or something? It seems to be that… Very good.”
Seeing that, Cheon-hwi smirked.
The scenery visible now, the path of plum blossoms.
This perfectly matched the scenery he had separately told Zhuge Seong-hyeon in the past.
“With this, they can’t possibly not know.”
Cheon-hwi lifted his sword.
Then, the plum blossom petals wrapping around the sky fluttered and slowly rotated.
Twenty-Four Movements Plum Blossom Sword Art, First Movement.
It was the manifestation of Plum Blossom Roadside.
Rustle-
Then, the plum blossom petals disappeared.
Instead, an old Daoist wearing Daoist robes appeared and danced atop the clouds.
Movements just like a butterfly.
Cheon-hwi lowered his sword as he watched the old man’s dance, which looked as if he would flutter and fly away if the wind blew.
What that dance meant was clear.
Adapt.
To the flow, to the momentum, to your sword.
Cheon-hwi’s sword was swung.
No, his hand adapted to the sword.
The boundary between hand and sword disappearing.
It was the manifestation of the Unity of Sword and Body.
* * *
Fwoosh-
Zhuge Seong-hyeon blankly looked at the lamp.
“…Haha.”
Now, he couldn’t even let out a hollow laugh.
Passing the Fifth Plum Blossom Gate in just a quarter of an hour?
This felt different from before.
Having already experienced all Seven Plum Blossom Gates, he knew how difficult it was to pass the gates one by one.
Was the second gate easy just because you passed the first gate?
That wasn’t the case.
The second gate could be harder, and the fourth gate could rather be easier.
But there was exactly one thing.
It was obvious that it became doubly difficult from the fifth gate onwards.
Yet, he had just passed the fifth gate.
And at a ridiculous speed too!
“…It’s beyond my expectations.”
Zhuge Seong-hyeon shook his head.
With his common sense, he was an existence that could not be judged.
No, it wasn’t just him.
The world wouldn’t be able to judge him either.
Cheon-hwi, having demonstrated all of the Sword Art following the illusion containing the meaning of the Plum Blossom Sword Art, sheathed his sword.
“He made it well, just as I said.”
The smile that surfaced on his lips was full of satisfaction.
Executing martial arts by learning it exactly as it was in the manual, and executing it after realizing the meaning contained within, were on a different level.
Anyone could copy just the form, but embedding meaning within it was unimaginably difficult.
However, the Fifth Plum Blossom Gate made it possible to embed the meaning of that martial art.
By showing the meaning contained within the movement as an illusion, no less.
‘Like this, they will think about the movement and wonder why it is such a movement…’
Cheon-hwi nodded.
Contemplation was the foundation of martial arts and the enlightenment to advance to the next stage.
“It’s more than I thought.”
Perhaps it wasn’t intended.
That was because the Zhuge Clan didn’t know about the Plum Blossom Sword Art.
It was a product of coincidence overlapping with coincidence.
“There’s no need to look any further here.”
As he entered the opened next door.
Thud!
The door closed.
At the same time, the Night Illuminating Pearls in all directions lit up.
“It’s exactly the same as the Soul Demon Gate.”
Cheon-hwi inspected the surroundings.
On the left were Bigu pills, and on the right was a jar filled with water.
At a glance, it wasn’t a gate made for spending just a day or two.
“It should start soon, right?”
Just then, dense spiritual energy flowed out.
It was so heavy and full that his body felt heavy, as if he had fallen into water.
“It seems more spiritual energy has accumulated in Mount Hua than I thought.”
If one faced it for the first time, they would rejoice at the dense spiritual energy, but that was a miscalculation.
Doesn’t it say too much is as bad as too little?
Even if it was spiritual energy, one was bound to be crushed if they were not at a level to handle it.
“If this formation was laid out in the Soul Demon Gate, most would have died.”
Originally, the Soul Demon Gate was a gate that drew out the Shedding Demonic Nature by feeding an elixir full of demonic energy called the Demonic Soul Pill.
If absorbed properly, one would reach the state of Shedding Demonic Nature.
Instead, if they couldn’t absorb it, it was a gate where they would fall into Qi Deviation and become a madman.
Cheon-hwi had twisted that a bit.
Instead of the Demonic Soul Pill, he had gathered the spiritual energy in Mount Hua using a formation.
Therefore, its concentration was incredibly dense.
It didn’t affect the brain like demonic energy, but it was dangerous.
It was obvious that apart from a few among the Daoists of the Mount Hua Sect, they would faint the moment they entered this place.
“Still, if they can just handle it…”
Cheon-hwi’s eyes curved.
How could one just obtain power for nothing?
It was equivalent exchange.
If there was something gained, there must also be something lost.
After a brief moment of time passed.
Sssss-
The abundant spiritual energy slowly dissipated.
“Hmm, is this the maximum limit?”
He recalled what Zhuge Seong-hyeon had said when planning this Sixth Plum Blossom Gate.
No matter how much of a spiritual mountain Mount Hua was, they couldn’t just keep gathering spiritual energy.
It was only possible exactly twice: during the time of day when the most energy gathered, the Hour of the Rabbit when the sun rose, and the Hour of the Rooster when the sun set.
Only for the time it takes to eat a meal at once.
Even that couldn’t be done every day.
If they did, the balance would collapse no matter how full of spiritual energy Mount Hua was.
‘Is it about four times a year?’
Cheon-hwi stroked his chin.
They couldn’t keep the Seven Plum Blossom Gates open constantly anyway. For one, there was a lot to prepare, and there were many consumables as well.
‘If it’s once every solar term…’
Click-
At that moment, a small space suddenly opened on the floor, and a wooden pillar shot up.
“There are all sorts of mechanisms and formations.”
Cheon-hwi looked at the wooden box placed on the wooden pillar, then reached out and opened it.
Clack-
Inside it was a martial arts manual.
The martial arts manual of the Seven Absolutes Plum Blossom Sword written separately for this gate.
In fact, the Fifth Plum Blossom Gate and the Sixth Plum Blossom Gate were made to connect to each other.
Seeing the lacking parts while learning the Twenty-Four Movements Plum Blossom Sword Art, and then looking at the Seven Absolutes Plum Blossom Sword?
The actions most people would take were set.
“Then they would engross themselves in the Seven Absolutes Plum Blossom Sword.”
As soon as Cheon-hwi put the martial arts manual back into the wooden box and closed it.
Thud-
The wooden box disappeared back down.
A moment later, the hole also closed neatly, without even leaving a trace of having been opened.
“The Zhuge Clan really isn’t famous for their mechanisms and formations for nothing.”
As he looked down as if fascinated.
Grrrr-
Finally, the next wall opened.
“Now then, the Seventh Plum Blossom Gate…”
Cheon-hwi, with an intriguing expression, took a step toward the wide-open door leading to the Seventh Plum Blossom Gate.
Step- Step-
He walked toward the dark space.
When is it coming out?
How long had he walked while anticipating the next seventh gate?
Grrrr-
The wall opened, and light leaked out.
“What?”
Cheon-hwi, who moved his steps there with a puzzled expression, furrowed his brow.
“It’s outside?”
His brow furrowed as he looked at the superb view of Mount Hua surrounding him.
“Could this be the end? What about the Seventh Plum Blossom Gate?”
When Cheon-hwi was feeling bewildered.
“Already to the seventh gate…”
Zhuge Seong-hyeon was absentminded.
The Seventh Plum Blossom Gate was a gate made with twice the effort as the other gates.
Because it was an Illusion Alteration Formation created by utilizing numerous formations present in the Zhuge Clan.
‘The Seventh Plum Blossom Gate is where one meets the strongest figure they can think of as an enemy after falling into the formation. But he did that immediately…?’
When he was staring blankly.
“The last gate is broken?”
A voice was heard from behind his back.
“H-how did you get here?”
Zhuge Seong-hyeon, startled out of his wits, jumped up and then let out a breath upon discovering Cheon-hwi.
“What do you mean how. I came after noticing your presence.”
“…My presence?”
Zhuge Seong-hyeon was dumbfounded.
He came because he felt his presence?
What kind of nonsense was this…
‘It might be possible if it’s the young hero.’
He immediately accepted it.
Considering he passed the Seventh Plum Blossom Gate that fast, feeling a presence was nothing.
“More importantly, did you install the Seventh Plum Blossom Gate properly? The formation didn’t activate.”
“Yes? It didn’t activate?”
“Nothing came out.”
“That shouldn’t be the case…”
Zhuge Seong-hyeon tilted his head.
How much effort had he put into the Seventh Plum Blossom Gate?
Yet on the other hand, a thought occurred to him that it might be right.
Passing the Seventh Plum Blossom Gate this quickly made no sense no matter how much he thought about it.
“I will check it once.”
Cheon-hwi tilted his head.
“When are you going to go in?”
“I can go in right now.”
As he spoke, Zhuge Seong-hyeon turned the rightmost lamp in the opposite direction.
Grrrr-
Then, the wall where the lamp was split in half with a crack, revealing a passageway.
“So this is how the passageway was used.”
“A-ah, did you know?”
Zhuge Seong-hyeon was terrified.
To think he noticed there was a passageway.
He thought there was nothing more to be shocked about, but exclamations of astonishment kept bursting out.
However, Cheon-hwi, the person in question, asked as if wondering why that was something to be surprised about.
“Why wouldn’t I know that?”
“No… That’s…”
Zhuge Seong-hyeon, who was about to retort something, laughed dejectedly and shook his head.
“…I will quickly check and come back.”
“Alright.”
Cheon-hwi answered casually.
Step- Step-
Zhuge Seong-hyeon entered into the darkness.
‘It didn’t activate?’
As he walked down the passageway, he felt puzzled.
The Seventh Plum Blossom Gate was the gate he had made with the utmost devotion.
He had suffered to the point of taking short naps to make it.
Soon, having reached the end of the passageway, he grabbed the lever on the left side of the wall blocking his path and slowly pulled it down.
Grrrr-
The wall opened, and light came in.
And in that moment.
“What do you mean it didn’t activate…!”
He shouted in spite.
Right in front of him was the figure he feared most in the world.
The Patriarch of the Zhuge Clan, and his father.
Zhuge Sin.
“Damn it!”
Enjoyed the chapter?
If you like our work, consider supporting us on Ko-fi. This site solely runs on donations. Every donation helps us keep translating!
Support on Ko-fi