Chapter 371: Mobile unit Sortie (1)
“Hmm, so that happened.”
“Yes.”
Yeon Wi smacked his lips.
“No wonder your expression seemed to have changed a lot. You didn’t tell me separately, but you had such a conversation with him.”
Gang Ryang, who took a sip of tea, spoke with an awkward face.
“I’m worried if I said unnecessary words.”
“Do not say that. You said words that were sufficiently necessary to say. Rather, it is my fault for not giving you advice at the right time.”
“Ah, you don’t have to go as far as saying that…”
“That’s not it. Lately, I haven’t been able to solidify our internal affairs because I’ve only been paying attention to external affairs. I will have to pay more attention in the future.”
Yeon Wi, who sighed softly, soon smiled and examined Gang Ryang’s body.
“By the way, it seems you have been devoting yourself diligently all this time. The energy emanating from you is well-refined and not scattered like before.”
He didn’t actually see his sword force, but he could gauge the opponent’s skill just by the revealed energy. Furthermore, since they were fellow swordsmen, it couldn’t escape Yeon Wi’s eyes.
Gang Ryang shook his head.
“I lack a lot. Even if I say I lack, I am lacking by far.”
“Do you think so?”
“When I was more clumsy than now, I didn’t know what the problem was or what parts were lacking. At least now it’s different. The lacking parts of the power I gained keep catching my eyes, so I am agonizing between the points to complement and the path to move forward.”
It was a much more mature tone of voice. Actually, his voice, which seemed much more serious and deep inside than before, was impressive.
‘He is chasing after it.’
Benevolence and worry dwelled in Yeon Wi’s eyes looking at Gang Ryang.
‘He is seriously chasing the Sword Way. Unmindful of the gazes around him, he is living the life of a seeker solely for his own completion.’
It was amazing.
The changed energy, the agony felt from his voice, and yet the unwavering eyes were like those of a practitioner trying to complete only one path.
It was a face hard to see in a young man who had just turned twenty. Setting aside his skill, the face of such a deep-minded martial artist wouldn’t be that many even if one searched the entire Central Plains.
Yeon Wi opened his mouth.
“The martial art you learned, did you say it’s Ghost Sword?”
A sword possessed by a ghost. It was quite a bloody name.
Gang Ryang nodded.
“To be exact, it is called Ghost King Martial Art. It is a martial art encompassing divine art, sword, and footwork, and if you perfectly cultivate the lower stage, you can ascend to the upper stage.”
Ghost King True Qi was a supreme divine art once evaluated to be within the top ten fingers in the history of the Black Path.
However, just as people change when times change, Ghost King True Qi also had its shortcomings complemented and advantages revived with the passage of time.
As a result, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the current Ghost King True Qi was the greatest masterpiece in the history of the Ghost Iron Sword Sect. In terms of White Path Murim, it could be compared to the greatest secret arts of the Nine Sects One Gang.
“The Ghost Sword you showed me before looked very thick with killing intent and sharp, but it was a sword art that crushed the enemy centering on the peerless strong strike hidden within it.”
“That is correct.”
“But the energy you show now is a bit different. Have you temporarily put aside the fundamental Overbearing Way and focused more on sharpness?”
Gang Ryang smiled.
“You are amazing indeed. You see through it exactly.”
“Knowing what one’s own sword, the martial art one learned, pursues is extremely important. That’s why the majority of martial artists are bound to walk the path the martial art pursues by identifying it with their own path.”
“I don’t think it’s bad. To understand a martial art, one must know how to face the end set by that martial art.”
“That is also true. However, you have already surpassed that. Even while seeing the end pursued by the Ghost King Martial Art, you yourself have deviated from that path.”
Yeon Wi nodded.
“It will be somewhat difficult, but if your effort is like now, you will surely be able to gain an unexpected result. I believe so.”
“Thank you.”
“Hmm.”
Yeon Wi, who was stroking his chin, smiled and stood up from his seat.
“There is a sword strike I used against the enemy in this operation. It is a martial art I created as my own secret art, but what I actually conceived is Three Swords.”
“…?”
“Among them, I created One Sword, but it is not yet completed. The power is completed, but the time consumed until execution is long, and the true qi consumption is also excessively large, which is a problem.”
“Pardon?”
“Would you like to take a look? The sword I created.”
“M-may I really?”
“What is there that I cannot show. The reason I haven’t shown this sword to Ji-pyeong yet is because Ji-pyeong hasn’t found his own Sword Way yet. If things went wrong, I thought he might be captivated by this sword force and negatively impact his growth.”
Yeon Wi pointed to the door with his hand.
“Take a look once. See this sword, and if there is anything you can learn, feel free to gain it to your heart’s content. Furthermore, if you see any lacking points in me, I hope you will tell me without hesitation.”
* * *
“Cough!”
Yeon Ho-jeong, whose entire body was covered in blood, vomited a handful of blood. Literally, there was no intact place on his whole body.
Although he said he relaxed his strength as much as possible, reduced the poison qi, and slowed the speed, a secret art was still a secret art. He struck away most of the hidden weapons, but the shock kept accumulating, and the more it did, the more the wounds hit by the hidden weapons increased.
What was fortunate was that Tang Kwan didn’t take out the final End Chapter, the ultimate secret art among secret arts. Since he hadn’t even completed half of it in the first place, it wasn’t in a state to be taken out either.
However, even taking that into account, stopping at just this much was amazing.
Tang Kwan was dumbfounded.
‘What kind of guy is this?’
Ten Myriad Heavens Art and Flower Rain Art were each composed of three chapters of secret arts, and he could only realize up to the middle chapters of the two martial arts so far. He hadn’t even grasped a feel for the final End Chapter.
In the future, Tang Kwan’s ultimate goal was to combine Myriad Heavens and Flower Rain into one to freely use hidden weapon techniques. Of course, that didn’t mean the power of the two martial arts currently cultivated up to the middle chapters was weak.
‘He received all of Flower Rain’s First Chapter and Middle Chapter, and Myriad Heavens’ Middle Chapter? And he only stopped at that much?’
Yeon Ho-jeong’s blood-covered appearance was terrible enough to make an onlooker shudder.
However, Tang Kwan could know. Compared to what was seen, Yeon Ho-jeong wasn’t that severely injured. Due to the poison qi and Infiltration Force, his internal injuries were quite large and his external injuries were substantial, but if he just received treatment, he would be able to move without difficulty even two days later immediately.
It was an absurd result. Whether it was the First Chapter or Middle Chapter, this secret art was a mighty martial art capable of sweeping away a unit-level as soon as it was realized.
He received that alone, no matter how much the power, poison force, and speed were reduced. Furthermore, holding unfamiliar twin axes!
“Cough! Keuh-ek, ptooey! Ugh, I really almost died and came back alive.”
Yeon Ho-jeong plopped down and sat on the spot.
It wasn’t a serious internal or external injury, but his energy was completely drained. It was because the mental exertion was extreme from swinging the axes while grasping the movement of the hidden weapons and the flow of true qi.
Clank.
Yeon Ho-jeong put down the Black and White Twin Dragons and spoke as if grumbling.
“It really is a terrifying martial art. There wouldn’t be many people in the current Murim who could receive it.”
“…”
“You controlled the power as much as possible, right?”
“…That’s right.”
Chi-i-i-i-ik!
The Yeon Clan’s Divine Elixir spun at high speed and swelled the size of the Vermilion Bird Fire Qi.
The poison qi that had penetrated his whole body quickly evaporated. He was told to sit cross-legged and drive out the poison qi, but since Tang Kwan suppressed the poison qi as much as possible, there was no need to concentrate and extract it.
Still, it was an amazing thing to flap his lips that fine. Tang Kwan admired and said.
“You’re truly an iron man. Honestly, when you received the last Flower Rain Middle Chapter, I thought you would be carried away.”
“It’s thanks to you showing mercy in your hand techniques.”
“It’s not an easy martial art that anyone can block just because I showed mercy in my hand techniques. This is definitely because you are amazing.”
It was an uncommon compliment. If he didn’t have absolute confidence in his secret art, this compliment wouldn’t have come out either.
“Then let’s say so. By the way…”
Yeon Ho-jeong stroked his chin.
Tang Kwan’s eyes flashed.
“How was it? Did you see any points to complement?”
“Yes, I saw it. I did see it, but I’m not sure if I should tell you this.”
“Funny words. Whatever words you say, if I think I don’t need to digest them, I can just cast them out. Speak without hesitation.”
There was a reason Yeon Ho-jeong hesitated.
‘Will it go wrong because of me?’
The invincible secret art of the Ten Thousand Poisons Emperor Tang Kwan, the legendary secret learning that would be called the strongest martial art in the history of the Tang Clan, Myriad Heavens Flowers Rain, was a martial art where his predecessor set the framework and Tang Kwan ground his bones to complete it.
Even without his advice, Tang Kwan would be able to complete Myriad Heavens Flowers Rain someday.
The problem was now. He was worried whether his hasty advice would harm the invincible ultimate art that would bloom in the future.
‘History can change even with a single trivial word. With my advice unnecessarily, it might take more time to cultivate the martial art, or in the worst case, he might not be able to complete it at all.’
Yeon Ho-jeong’s face clouded.
‘I should have thought about it before receiving it. I’ve received a truly burdensome request.’
Yeon Ho-jeong, who was lost in thought for a moment, soon shook his head.
‘No. History has already changed from the moment I died and returned. The Myeong Clan collapsed by my hands, and the Murim Alliance was established earlier than its original history. The flow of the world has already changed from the past, so there is no need to worry even about this part.’
It was already spilt water. Then, living faithfully to the present would be the correct answer after all.
Yeon Ho-jeong firmed his mind.
“Then I will start from the Flower Rain Art. In the Flower Rain First Chapter…”
He spoke without adding or subtracting the weaknesses of Myriad Heavens Flowers Rain that he had seen through.
Listening to those words, Tang Kwan was greatly surprised every moment.
Even if one is relatively stronger, reaching this realm, what each person enlightened is bound to be different. Even a relative strong person might show meager knowledge in the weak person’s specialized field.
The opposite case was the same.
The loopholes of the Myriad Heavens Art and Flower Rain Art that Yeon Ho-jeong pointed out were parts that Tang Kwan had never expected until now. Furthermore, while pointing out the parts, he didn’t miss the big flow, so he could know how much Yeon Ho-jeong had concentrated on this martial art.
It was natural as Yeon Ho-jeong’s enlightenment was that of the Dark Emperor, so he could catch the parts Tang Kwan missed or lacked creatively with amazing insight.
“In other words, I think the flow to the End Chapter will open naturally just by catching the linked technique between the First Chapter and Middle Chapter I mentioned well. Of course, the Clan Head will have to create the oral formulas and dharma texts to control that flow yourself.”
Tang Kwan muttered with a serious face.
“While reducing the true qi consumed by Void Manipulation… inducing irregular reflection… the diversity of the flow due to the impact between fragments…”
Yeon Ho-jeong smiled.
Tang Kwan standing still and muttering was quite refreshing. He seemed completely focused.
Yeon Ho-jeong carefully picked up the Black and White Twin Dragons and stood up. It was because he didn’t want to needlessly disturb Tang Kwan.
When he turned his body and was about to leave the training ground like that.
“Wait!”
“Huh?”
Yeon Ho-jeong looked back.
Tang Kwan ran over in a flurry.
“Do you have time? If so, have a cup of tea with me before you go.”
“…I need to treat my injuries.”
“I will treat them for you, so follow me without complaining!”
Tang Kwan was ultimately a martial artist.
In the end, Yeon Ho-jeong was caught by Tang Kwan until dawn the next day, improving Myriad Heavens Flowers Rain together before he fainted again. It was because he had spilled too much blood.
Only then did Tang Kwan click his tongue, carry Yeon Ho-jeong on his back, and head to Gi Wu-hui.
“For a young guy to be staggering like this, my. Back in my day, even after spilling three buckets of blood, I fell into a liquor jar for three days…”