Chapter 88: Chapter 88
‘The human body contains countless energies, like a cluster of tiny frog eggs. The five elements and yin and yang are the foundation, but beyond those, the varieties are countless.’
But how?
How on earth was he supposed to find and manipulate the energy of yin and yang, which he had never touched or felt in his entire life, among them, like invisible air?
“Huu…”
He exhaled and closed his eyes.
The previous owner was an unhelpful man.
He didn’t teach his methods easily. But he never spoke falsehoods.
‘Therefore, there must be a way to find it.’
That was enough.
VWOOM!
Jang I-seo began to circulate his energy.
The demonic qi of the Heavenly Demon surged from his dantian and slowly began to travel through his body. He could feel the countless energies that made up his physical form.
Wood, fire, earth, metal, water.
Those with abundant fire are quick-tempered, while those with strong water are flexible. Those who have cultivated much wood occasionally display giving tendencies.
In any case, a person usually had one dominant energy. Thus, this became their fundamental nature.
But Jang I-seo was…
Chaos.
It was like staring at a desert made of fifty thousand colors.
It contained an uncountable number of energies.
Finding yin and yang within this was like a giant, as big as a house, searching for a grain-of-sand-sized jewel in a vast desert.
But Jang I-seo possessed the Five Elements and senses that reached the pinnacle of martial arts due to his Nine-Orifice Body.
If the previous owner had done it, so could he.
If it was not a lie, he could find it.
Can I feel it? No.
Then again.
Can I feel it? Nothing.
Then again.
Without rushing, Jang I-seo gradually sank deeper into his own world.
Ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times.
And when he finally fell into a state of selflessness.
Suddenly, a voice from an old memory echoed.
‘Yin and yang are the foundation of all creation in heaven and earth, a continuous flow. At times they oppose, at times they coexist, and eventually maintaining harmony and equilibrium, that itself is the universe.’
The man who had flown away into the sky riding a single sword.
One of the Divine Five, the supreme elders of the righteous path, and known as the Star of Central Principle.
Those were the words of Hyeon Cheong, the elder of the Wudang Sect and the current Martial Alliance Lord.
He didn’t know why the words he had forgotten suddenly came to mind.
But in this moment, Jang I-seo was experiencing the truth of those words as if possessed. Or rather, perhaps because he was feeling it first, the man’s words had surfaced in his mind before anything else.
But which came first didn’t matter.
What mattered was that Jang I-seo’s body was slowly rising into the air.
‘Opposition and coexistence. Just as day and night push each other away, and pull each other in. From yang to yin. And back from yin to yang. One yet two, two yet one. That which reacts mutually to each other is precisely…’
Yin and yang.
KWAANG!
An explosion rang out within him, and as Jang I-seo floated gently upward, a massive, invisible ring formed behind his back before vanishing.
A ring of taiji, composed of black and white.
If an elder of the Wudang Sect, the Martial Alliance Lord, had seen this, he would have beaten the ground and deeply regretted sending him to the Demonic Cult.
Jang I-seo didn’t realize it at the time, but this was a phenomenon that appeared only at a stage considered legendary even within Daoism.
Originally, to master Daoist martial arts, the body had to be prepared to receive immortal qi, a process divided into three major stages.
The first was the Five Qi Convergence, refining the body to accept the five elements.
The second was the Three Flowers Gathering, sending extreme yang energy through the three dantians to the Baihui point at the crown of the head.
And finally, harmonizing the two energies of yin and yang to settle them into a single, unified new qi was the legendary stage of Yin-Yang Unity.
Usually, this was naturally grasped alongside the attainment of divine enlightenment. But despite being only at the initial stage of the absolute realm, Jang I-seo had bypassed the Five Qi Convergence and the Three Flowers Gathering, instantly awakening to the boundary of Yin-Yang Unity.
This was the birth of a transcendent talent ready to master the supreme Daoist martial arts of legend, and it also meant he possessed a solid shield that would not fall to any spirit-summoning arts, including soul-harvesting techniques.
It was a miraculous result born from the process of mastering the Art of Creation, an art that shattered common sense, by a being with incomparable innate talent who possessed the Nine-Orifice Body.
FWOOSH.
Before long, the ring scattered, and Jang I-seo landed back on the floor.
His eyes slowly opened.
He had possessed a deep gaze before, but now it held a refined depth, like looking at a high monk.
“Mmm…”
The first words he uttered were a single note of contemplation.
He clearly remembered finding the energy of yin and yang, gathering it into one, and becoming completely absorbed in it as if sucked in.
But after that, he was dazed.
For now, he could feel the energy of yin and yang as distinctly as he could perceive his own hands and feet.
But one thing was certain.
“I can do it.”
He had the conviction that he could execute the Qi Guard and the Charge that made up the Art of Creation.
Swish.
Jang I-seo rose from his spot and stood before the wall once more.
Then he thrust his left hand forward.
“Is this how I do it?”
FWOOSH.
As he concentrated the energy of yin and yang into his palm, an indescribable feeling crept over him.
Warm yet cold.
Bright yet dark.
A sensation that was hard to put into exact words.
He then divided that energy in two.
One part was yang. The other was yin.
VWOOM!
With a faint resonance, a magnetic force was generated, as if sucking something in.
“This is… the Charge…”
He wasn’t entirely sure, but if the previous owner, Han Mu-yeong, had seen this, he would have coughed up blood, cursing what kind of monstrous bastard existed in the world.
That was how flawlessly he succeeded.
Now there was only one thing left.
VWOOM!
The demonic qi of the Heavenly Demon began to circulate in Jang I-seo’s dantian.
And the moment he opened his eyes wide.
『Thunder Circulation Method』
BZZZT! A black flash of light burst forth, filling the cavern.
“Kuh!”
Jang I-seo let out a gasp and gritted his teeth. At the same time, his right hand shot out and grabbed the wrist of his left hand, which felt like it was about to run wild.
“What is this!”
A completely unbelievable result.
BZZZZT!
The lightning qi gathered in his left hand created a thunder sphere, slightly separated from his palm, accompanied by a tremendous resonance.
A palm-sized orb of black currents flashing and spinning wildly.
And its power was so immense that it far exceeded Jang I-seo’s imagination. In an instant, his internal energy drained from his dantian, and his hand swelled as if it were going to burst.
“Keugh…!”
At this rate, his hand might actually explode.
“Uraaaaagh!”
Finally, with a scream-like roar, Jang I-seo thrust his palm against the wall.
BZZZZZT!
Along with the sound of massive electric currents erupting.
KWAAAAANG!
A tremendous roar and shockwave swept through the cavern.
“Haa. Haa…”
A moment later, Jang I-seo’s shoulders slumped, and he let out a breathless gasp, all his strength gone. His legs trembled as if he would collapse at the slightest touch.
But that wasn’t what was important right now.
What seized all of Jang I-seo’s attention was the unbelievable sight spread out before him.
Tudududuk.
The wall was gouged out for fifteen meters as if a meteor had been slammed into it.
Debris crumbling down proved this had just happened.
Now he truly had to believe it.
“You really did… kill the Heavenly Demon.”
Jang I-seo’s sheer bewilderment was evident.
At this level, it wasn’t an art; it was a divine art.
He hadn’t expected such absurd power just by condensing the lightning qi.
“Han Mu-yeong… just who in the world are you?”
He was curious. He wanted to know more about him.
Just who was he? Where did he come from, that he could manipulate yin and yang like a Daoist and unleash such massive lightning qi?
If it were up to him, he would have spent the gold and silver hoarded in the Heavenly Demon Treasury right now to find traces of him.
“The Heavenly Demon might know.”
An image of Jin U-gwang formed in Jang I-seo’s mind.
A being so obsessively versed in the martial arts that he even knew the cure for the Nine-Orifice Body, which no one else had known.
If it was truly him, he might know something about Han Mu-yeong, the creator of the Thunder Circulation Method and the man who claimed to have killed the Heavenly Demon.
However…
“Needlessly stirring up trouble isn’t something a spy like me should do.”
He shouldn’t get more involved.
The more power he gained, the more cautious he had to be.
Only then could he survive.
“But what should I call this?”
Jang I-seo looked at the gouged wall again and smirked.
To reiterate, the previous owner, Han Mu-yeong, was truly apathetic.
He left behind the theory of the Art of Creation, but he wrote nothing about how to apply it or the techniques he had created from it.
In short, the sphere he had just unleashed could be called Jang I-seo’s original technique.
“Let’s call it the Charge Thunder Sphere.”
And so, the first technique was named.
Jang I-seo straightened his clothes and stood before the wall.
It was already heavily damaged, making it feel awkward to pay his respects.
But what needed to be done had to be done.
Thud. Jang I-seo fell to his knees and spoke.
“Originally, I should have offered the respects of a disciple long ago, but given my position. I trust you will understand, as your own circumstances must not have been so different.”
Jang I-seo was a figure of the Martial Alliance and a spy hiding within the Demonic Cult.
Therefore, he couldn’t offer the nine prostrations to a man whose name and identity he didn’t know. But now he knew his name was Han Mu-yeong, and that he had been a spy dispatched to kill the Heavenly Demon.
Thus, he felt it was right to pay at least the minimum respects.
“I will not forget this gratitude until the day I die.”
Jang I-seo offered a bow of deep respect, and in his heart, he came to regard him as the master who had taught him.
All that remained was to never forget his name for the rest of his life and to use this power righteously.
With that, Jang I-seo stepped out of the Heavenly Demon Treasury, having mastered a new secret art, the Art of Creation.
Eagerly anticipating the day he would encounter his traces again.
* * *
– Mahe Mountain, Peak of the Heavenly Demon Palace.
A sheer cliff where the Heavenly Demon Palace was situated.
A man standing atop its towering peak looked down at a vast, ocean-like lake situated behind it.
Eyes as deep as the ocean, as if he had comprehended all creation.
Distinct features. A sharp jawline.
Lush white hair that even seemed to carry a story.
It wouldn’t be strange if he lacked at least one thing.
He was a man with a flawlessly sculpted visage.
If that one thing was all he could trust, it would be some consolation. Unfortunately, he was perfect in other ways as well.
Power great enough to shake the world. Heaven-shattering martial arts. And an age of over seventy.
However, there was a single phrase that allowed all this unfairness.
And that was the Heavenly Demon.
That’s right.
The Heavenly Demon of the current era, Jin U-gwang.
It was him.
And two men, dressed in unified black and white attire, suddenly appeared behind him, having quietly vacated their posts to find him, and offered respectful bows.
“As expected, you were here.”
“Right Emissary. ‘As expected’? If it was something you foresaw, it was my place to say it. As expected, you were here.”
It was the Radiant Right Emissary, Heuk-ya, and the Radiant Left Emissary, Baek-ya.
Jin U-gwang’s closest aides, two men who had been active even before his reign.
Combined, their ages exceeded two hundred years, making them living witnesses to the history of the Demonic Cult.