Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Three days passed.

Time flowed helplessly like flowing water, but the situation I was currently in was no different from before.

‘I didn’t know I would end up continuing to stay in this state.’

The current state of my body was the worst.

Although I widened my blood vessels with the qi that entered at that time, it was only a temporary measure, and it couldn’t perfectly heal my current body.

As a result, this damn body didn’t allow me to even open my eyes, let alone move a single finger.

Of course, if I wanted to solve it, I could have.

However, I deliberately didn’t take any particular action.

‘…Not yet.’

Naturally, what would I gain by waking up without knowing the situation I was in?

‘On top of that, since I heard the words Mount Hua Sect, it’s also a bit much to step forward recklessly.’

Fortunately, my consciousness was clear, and the chattering sounds from my surroundings could be heard vividly.

Thanks to that, I was able to acquire more information than expected and organize the situation.

‘Everyone called me Cheon-hwi.’

When I first heard it, it was absurd.

Who was I?

Absolute Heavenly Demon Dokgo Gu Yeon.

The absolute ruler who made his mighty name known to every corner of the Nine Provinces and Eight Desolates, not to mention the Heavenly Demon Cult and the Tianshan Mountains, was none other than myself.

‘But Cheon-hwi?’

If I had been called that only once or twice, I would have laughed it off.

However, I couldn’t laugh it off.

They called me Cheon-hwi every single day.

At first, I was confused.

Why were they calling me Cheon-hwi?

And why was I in this state?

The more I pondered over it like that, only a single answer was derived.

That I was currently Cheon-hwi.

Since there was no other answer, what could I do?

‘I just have to acknowledge it.’

Acknowledging it as such, I organized my thoughts.

Perhaps if my guess was right, due to the grand ritual, my soul had taken over the empty shell left behind by the child named Cheon-hwi.

‘If so, did the Eternal Immortality Reigning Grand Ritual fail…?’

Annoyance suddenly flared up.

It was a grand ritual into which I poured a whopping ten years of time and all my knowledge.

But to say it was a failure.

‘No, it can’t be a failure.’

I recalled the situation at that time.

The Eternal Immortality Reigning Grand Ritual activated, and a brilliantly colorful hue that didn’t seem to belong to the mortal world enveloped me.

The grand ritual was perfect just as it was written?

Why did it turn out like this?

‘No way!’

A thunderbolt struck my head.

To be eternally immortal meant transferring one’s soul and taking over another person’s body…

‘Damn bastard! You should have properly written down what would happen afterwards.’

Curses naturally came out.

Was it somewhat fortunate?

I had no lingering attachments to the past.

Neither reputation nor status.

Naturally, if I had lingering attachments to the past, would I have stepped down from the Cult Leader position and abruptly left the Heavenly Demon Cult?

Even so, I also wasn’t interested in eternal immortality.

Since there is life, there is also death.

I planned to follow the natural order.

It was a bit regrettable that I couldn’t experience all the martial arts in the world, though.

But!

This dog-like state I was currently in was not to my liking at all.

Mount Hua Sect? Mou-unt Hua Sect?

The Mount Hua Sect of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang that had endlessly given me shit since the old days?

Moreover, I was a disciple there?

It was a total load of bullshit.

But there was no helping it.

Since the situation had already become like this.

‘I need to find out about this guy named Cheon-hwi.’

After that day, I held my breath and kept my ears open to gather information.

Fortunately, since the visitors were mostly those related to Cheon-hwi, information overflowed.

As I listened attentively to their conversations and steadily gathered information like that, thanks to that, I could roughly figure out about the child named Cheon-hwi.

A young age that hadn’t even reached fifteen.

The disciple of Hyeon-gang, the youngest of the now-deceased Hyeon generation.

A pure and kind child loved by everyone in the Mount Hua Sect.

They were all words referring to Cheon-hwi.

And now, describing me.

Pfft…

Did someone say that ‘you laugh when it’s too absurd’?

My feelings were exactly like that.

Pure, kind, and loved?

They were words I had never heard in my entire life.

If someone from the Heavenly Demon Cult said these words to me, I would doubt them first.

Of course, there was no one who would say such a thing.

‘Because the Cheon-hwi they are talking about is not me.’

Around the time I finished all my thoughts.

“…”

Just in time, the voices that had been heard occasionally couldn’t be heard at all.

Following that, I felt the gradually spreading silence eventually swallow the Hall of Medicine completely.

‘Since I’ve obtained enough information worth getting, then shall I try moving now?’

Concentrating my mind, I introspected my body.

As expected, the inside of my body was a mess.

It was a long way off for my blood vessels to become sturdy, and the Twelve Meridian Channels where the qi and blood in my body circulated were completely blocked.

A state where it wouldn’t be strange if I died at any moment.

Unlike Cheon-go’s words three days ago that I only needed to take rest, my body was precariously riding the boundary between life and death.

And that was a given.

No matter how much he had learned medical arts, he couldn’t grasp the detailed inside.

Because what he had grasped at that time were the blood vessels widened using the qi of the Purple Perilla Pill.

Anyone else other than him would also have grasped that Cheon-hwi had stabilized.

‘Of course, if they had known about this body right now, they might have at least noticed something strange, but… If they had known that, there’s no way they would have left it like this until now.’

Something I discovered while examining the body.

I hadn’t collapsed because I was fragile.

It was due to a bizarre severed meridian syndrome.

‘I didn’t know it would actually exist, though.’

It was around the time I was once deeply engrossed in medicine.

I recalled a medical book gathering a thick layer of dust in the corner of the Heavenly Demon Library.

Number One Medical Book Under Heaven.

The medical book with a ridiculous title from the start was the work of the Life and Death Weird Doctor, a quack doctor who practiced bizarre medical arts in the past.

Unlike its title of the Number One Medical Book Under Heaven, the book wasn’t a proper medical book.

Methods to efficiently make Jiangshi.

Could one learn the Jiangshi’s martial art, Skeleton Art, if they transplanted a rotten arm?

Things regarding human experiments that a doctor would absolutely never do were written down.

‘It was quite a fun book if you ruled out the fact that it was a medical book.’

Still, should I say a doctor is a doctor? It did have aspects fitting of a medical book.

It was written in detail about the various severed meridians and bodies under heaven.

Was it through human experiments?

There were constitutions that I had never heard of nor seen before.

Things like the Three Spirits Pure Yin Body, Five Demons Body, Indestructible Heavenly Astral Body, and the Heavenly Murderous Light Yin Meridian.

At the time I thought they were nonsensical contents, but now I could believe it.

No, I had no choice but to believe it.

Because this body was precisely one of those severed meridians explained in detail.

Yin and Yang Grand Spirit Severed Meridian.

It was a constitution born with the yin qi of a hundred people and the yang qi of a hundred people all at once.

The young Daoist who was originally the owner of this body would have probably endured those qis and spent his days arduously.

Then in the end, unable to hold out, he must have suffered from a lingering illness before dying.

‘And my soul must have taken over the shell that lost its soul like that.’

I could predict how it turned out.

‘Thinking about it any further will only make it complicated. Let’s fix the severed meridian first.’

If the Life and Death Weird Doctor was here right now, he would have snorted.

… The Yin and Yang Grand Spirit Severed Meridian is a severed meridian more cursed than any other. How could a human being handle and process the yin and yang qi of a whopping hundred people all alone?

The Yin and Yang Grand Spirit Severed Meridian was what even he, who conducted all sorts of ridiculous and bizarre human experiments, said there was no method for.

But to say I would fix the constitution.

The Life and Death Weird Doctor would have scoffed, asking what kind of nonsensical bullshit I was saying.

‘That’s what you think.’

But instead, I snorted.

‘Of course, ordinary people like you bastards would have failed, but it’s possible for me.’

I slowly skimmed over the qis of the body.

Fortunately, the qi was sufficient.

The qi of the Purple Perilla Pill that fell asleep in my blood vessels without being absorbed.

Then…

Thump…

Blood rapidly circulated through my whole body.

Along with that, my mind became heightened, and then.

Hwaaak!

A colossal internal energy stormed.

It was something to be startled about.

Cheon-hwi was a Daoist who hadn’t learned martial arts.

But to think there was such a colossal internal energy.

‘As expected, it can be demonstrated even without internal energy.’

It was the utility of the Absolute Reigning Art.

Normal mental methods were demonstrated by accumulating internal energy in the lower dantian, but the Absolute Reigning Art differed from them.

Generally, a mental method was a format of accumulating internal energy in the lower dantian and handling it.

Therefore, it was natural for one’s martial prowess and strength to be swayed depending on the amount of accumulated internal energy.

However, the Absolute Reigning Art shattered that mold.

The soul.

The soul was the vessel of the Absolute Reigning Art.

Because of that, I could awaken it.

Looking at it, it seemed no different from other mental methods, but that alone set it apart and put it in a different class.

Furthermore, with my own outstanding talent added to it, the Absolute Reigning Art transformed into an unparalleled mental method that far surpassed all martial arts known to the world.

‘Since the vessel isn’t placed in the lower dantian, I can handle all three dantians.’

Jjeo-eok…

The Baihui acupoint opened.

In between that, an indescribable qi entered like a great ocean, and began to knock on the qis of the Purple Perilla Pill that had fallen asleep in the blood vessels as if dead.

Thump! Thump!

The Eight Extraordinary Meridians widened.

The yin and yang qis of about a hundred people circulated through the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and flowed through the Twelve Meridian Channels.

Starting with the Governing Vessel and Conception Vessel, as well as the Penetrating Vessel, Girdle Vessel, Yang Motility Vessel, Yin Motility Vessel, Yang Linking Vessel, and Yin Linking Vessel.

Every circulation was natural.

Lastly, when the qis began to sweep through even the Twelve Meridian Channels, it came to an end.

* * *

Blink…

My eyes that were as heavy as a thousand catties opened.

I moved my neck with a refreshing mind as if I had awoken from a long sleep.

Crack… Crack…

My neck was still stiff to move, but compared to before, it was heavenly.

Like that, I got up from the bed.

“…”

I felt the change at once.

A remarkably lowered eye level.

And petite hands and feet.

I could feel I had become younger just by looking.

“They said fourteen, but it’s much smaller than I thought.”

I touched my neck at the thin voice that was heard by surprise.

Then I scratched the back of my head.

Would it be solved by standing still like this and pondering blindly?

Moving is what’s important for now.

“Shall I check it out myself for now?”

I raised my head and stared out the window.

The morning sun rising far away was driving out the deep darkness as if waiting for this moment.

Step… Step…

I slowly took steps forward.

After walking straight along the still dark interior for about fifteen minutes, I saw a closed door.

The moment I opened the door without delay.

Hwaaak!

Pure white light invaded my eyes.

“Ugh!”

I raised my hand at the intense light.

Was it because I hadn’t seen the light for a long time?

Upon facing the light, my eyes stung.

Eventually, after blinking my eyes a few times.

Swish…

I slowly removed my hand.

Beautiful colors began to dye the pure white light, and then a spectacular scenery unfolded.

Plum blossom petals fluttering with the wind.

Rugged peaks that looked like they were cut with a knife.

For a moment, I was mesmerized.

It was a beautiful scenery entirely different from the barren scenery I had seen in the Tianshan Mountains.

… Ha-ap!

Pulling my chin in at the vigorous shout coming from below at that moment, I looked down.

There was a gigantic training ground there.

And on that training ground, Daoists wearing uniforms engraved with plum blossom patterns were vigorously swinging their swords.

“Damn it!”

I looked down at the Daoists with an entirely unpleased gaze before vigorously scratching my head.

“It’s really Mount Hua.”

The Demonic Path Grandmaster, the Absolute Heavenly Demon.

He, who had made the Nine Provinces and Eight Desolates tremble, had woken up as a disciple of the Orthodox Faction, moreover, of the Mount Hua Sect, one of the pillars of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang.

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