Chapter 407: Chapter 407
The limited energy allotted to a life. That was Innate Energy.
In the murim, using one’s Innate Energy was also an implicit declaration that something mattered more than one’s own life.
I too had once nearly used Innate Energy in this life—to protect the Taeul Sect from the Iron Sword Sect and the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly. But on those occasions, there had always been a high-ranking figure present who could mediate the situation. By showing my resolve while allowing their intervention, I had achieved the effect of using Innate Energy without actually using it.
Of course, there were occasional blockheads like Yuk Si-rang and Jwa Dae-gi who treated Innate Energy like some kind of finishing move. Just as there were dregs among the Black Path murim’s lower warriors who popped Blood-Explosion Pills as if they were spiritual medicine.
There were those who blithely crossed the line that humans called common sense, but Innate Energy was fundamentally a force that humans should never touch—one that must never be used recklessly.
Put simply, it was tantamount to admitting your life was already ruined. The last resort of the weak—someone with nothing left to lose who screams that this one thing, at least, they absolutely cannot afford to lose.
Just as the man with more to lose is at a disadvantage in a fight, it was rare for those who had climbed to lofty heights and attained great levels to tamper with Innate Energy or use Blood-Explosion Pills.
‘Which means he’d have to be insane.’
HOOOOOO—
Visible energy rippled above Hyeon-yeong’s shoulders. Proof that his Innate Energy was so abundant it was overflowing beyond his body.
STEP—
SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH.
When he took a single step forward, afterimages appeared in every direction as though multiple bodies had materialized. By the time you saw, sensed, and thrust your blade—it was already too late.
SLICE, SLICE, SLICE, SLICE.
Because his sword had already passed.
This was on an entirely different level from Gye Cheol-yeong using a Blood-Explosion Pill. That man had merely increased his volume of inner arts and opened a few blocked meridians—he hadn’t advanced a single step beyond his existing level.
Hyeon-yeong, by contrast, fought with perfect control over the overflowing energy, as though he had reclaimed his true strength. He must have already achieved enlightenment first, with his body now catching up. And the Innate Energy was enabling every one of those accumulated insights to manifest at once.
Quite literally, a tiger given wings.
“Are you all right, Young Master Jin? The blood……”
“Please be quiet.”
“……Yes.”
Sorry, but I don’t have time to listen to you right now, Dam Ak. That son of a bitch is too strong.
I tightened the Heavenly Silkworm Thread and took a deep breath.
‘Seeing and reacting is too late.’
I tore through the library in my head, pulling out every Wudang martial art I knew. On top of that, I replayed every combat scene of Wudang personnel I’d witnessed on battlefields in my previous life.
I had to predict how they fought and how they linked their forms, then respond preemptively.
‘Five Dragons Coiling Hand connects to Azure Dragon Leaves the Lair and then Inverted Carry to Golden Peak.’
The instant he initiated his form, I immediately countered the next one in the sequence.
SLICE.
Searing pain accompanied a chunk of skin being gouged away. Even so, I calmly executed my countering form.
CLANG—!
As expected, what he’d deployed was Azure Dragon Leaves the Lair, followed by Inverted Carry to Golden Peak.
CLANG—!
I could feel his eyes waver.
WHORL.
The man who had been using Taiji Thirteen Stances instantly transitioned to Five-Branch Flowing Sword. His quick and fluid movements shifted once more into softness and solidity.
And my response became far easier than before. I’d simply seen more people who’d mastered Five-Branch Flowing Sword than Taiji Thirteen Stances.
Defending against an attack before it was even launched felt strange, but the effect was undeniable.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG—!
His eyes shook far more violently than before. Much better than that porcelain mask of his.
“What, surprised?”
He pushed me back and unleashed the Nine Palaces Divine Movement Sword once more. Fresh wounds appeared on my body.
This was my greatest weakness. I’d been such a pushover in my previous life that all I’d ever seen were pushover-level fights. I knew what the Nine Palaces Divine Movement Sword was, but I didn’t know how it was actually used in combat. In the end, the only option was to take the hits, memorize the patterns, and adapt.
CLANG! SLICE. CLANG! SLICE. CLANG! SLICE.
Thankfully, the approach seemed to work—the frequency of injuries decreased.
Deep gashes had already formed on my arms and legs, some exposing white bone, but it was fine. As long as I could escape, the Ten-Thousand-Year Earth Bear’s energy would heal wounds like these.
“Truly a shame. For someone of your caliber to be a Black Path man.”
Excuse me? Look at this bastard.
“I haven’t defected to the Black Path, you son of a bitch!”
Why was everyone forcibly converting me?
Since he’d gone so far as to tap into his Innate Energy, there was no way to slip out with half-measures. I had no choice but to use the Breaking Strike. I deployed the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula at full power, drawing out both Ten Thousand Swords and Sword Force.
“This ends now!”
The condensed, compressed wave of energy made it difficult to even breathe.
When the force beyond common sense crashed down, he responded on cue with Taiji Thirteen Stances.
My energy, devouring everything like an active volcano, against Hyeon-yeong’s energy, deflecting everything like a river. Where the two polar forces collided at the boundary, a phenomenon occurred.
CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE.
Space warped as the massive energies clashed.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH—!
An explosion loud enough to deafen, accompanied by a brutal shockwave and a blinding radiance.
In that space brimming with chaos, we aimed relentlessly for each other’s weaknesses.
He also refused to yield space easily, knowing I was aware of the Taiji Thirteen Stances’ weakness. I searched and searched for any way to wedge myself through.
The moment the opening I’d been waiting for appeared, I drove into the gap without hesitation. But—
“As I suspected, you did know the weakness of the Taiji Thirteen Stances.”
With a chillingly ominous voice, he willingly accepted the Red Radiance Sword.
SQUELCH!
Just as I had done, he caught the Red Radiance Sword with his body and seized the blade barehanded to obstruct its path. In that instant, I realized—
‘Where’s his sword?’
The moment I jerked my head up, I saw it. His sword, floating in midair, condensing explosive energy.
A fragment of higher-level enlightenment. Amplified by Innate Energy. At the absurd sight, a groan of disbelief escaped me.
“Qi-Driven Sword Control?!”
It was imperfect, but the aura alone was enough to identify it. He was crudely imitating the art of Qi-Driven Sword Control.
‘Fuck…… are you kidding me!’
When Gye Cheol-yeong used a Blood-Explosion Pill, all he’d managed was scattering some Sword Qi. Hyeon-yeong, with Innate Energy, had pulled out Qi-Driven Sword Control. It was hopelessly incomplete, since he hadn’t yet entered the realm of true sword control—but it was sword control nonetheless.
‘I’ll die!’
Dodging meant certain death. Running from a Qi-driven sword on my tail was equally out of the question. That left only one option.
“Do I look like a joke to you?!”
I too poured every ounce of power into the Red Radiance Sword. A brilliant Sword Force surged two chi high and slammed straight into the Qi-driven blade.
CRAAASH—
The instant they collided, the skin on my sword hand tore open and agony engulfed me. The pain traveled from my palm to my arm, shoulder, chest, and waist.
It wasn’t even a contest of raw power against raw power, yet the immense pressure cascaded through my entire body. I wondered if Dam Ak on my back could even endure this. But there was no time to check on him. Right there before my eyes, Hyeon-yeong was pouring out every last drop of his Innate Energy, nose streaming blood, his gaze locked on Dam Ak.
SCREEEEECH—
I had poured out every ounce of inner arts accumulated over five cycles, yet my body was being pushed back inch by inch.
‘A matter of quality, not quantity.’
Even as I felt the terror of Innate Energy firsthand, my mind raced.
What should I do? How do I break free from his Qi-driven sword?
If the opponent has staked his life while I’m only trying to preserve mine, I cannot survive. The Demonic Practitioners who’d died by my hand in the previous life had perished for that very reason.
In the end, I too had to stake my life.
‘If I can’t block it, I die anyway!’
I reached my hand toward the tip of the Qi-driven sword, brimming with ferocious energy.
“Eat shit!!!”
The burning true qi radiating from the sword set my fingers ablaze, but I seized it all the same. Simultaneously, I activated the Azure Dragon Bracelet.
SCREEEEECH——
Energy flowed in through my fingertips, but it was different from usual. Unlike the warm, viscous qi he’d absorbed before, the energy drawn from the tip of that blade pricked every meridian like thorns.
Moreover, the volume being absorbed was less than a fifth of normal. Considering that a Qi-driven sword’s energy carried the user’s will, that was only natural. But having started, I couldn’t stop. Enduring the agony that threatened to consume my entire body, I pressed one more step forward.
“AAAAAAARGH!”
As I drew the energy more ferociously, my body was no longer being pushed back. Just as I thought I could topple him and head for Anhui—
“Hyeon-yeong!!”
A middle-aged man in the same uniform as the lunatic who’d tapped his Innate Energy was sprinting toward us.
‘Fuck……’
***
Hyeon-yeong was stunned beyond belief. He had known Jin So-un’s skill was extraordinary, and that the man’s improvisations rivaled those of grizzled murim veterans. But the fact that he couldn’t easily overpower Jin So-un even after detonating his Innate Energy and pouring out his life’s worth of enlightenment was nothing short of astonishing.
Blocking the Qi-driven sword, of all things…… Incomplete as it was, that was not something an ordinary talent could stop.
But that was where it ended. Having unleashed the Qi-driven sword, Jin So-un and Dam Ak could never escape.
Yes, that was what he’d thought.
“Eat shit!!!”
With an ear-polluting vulgar roar, Jin So-un reached out his hand. His already mangled hand was shredded further by the searing true qi from the Qi-driven sword, blood streaming freely. And in that moment—
‘What in the fu——’
He nearly cursed aloud for the first time in his life—that was how stunned he was.
Energy was draining away.
Still a small amount, but Innate Energy imbued with his will was unmistakably bleeding out. Like the gradual loss of hand and foot strength after excessive external training, the energy was seeping away.
‘……That’s impossible!’
He couldn’t fathom what sorcery, what trick was at work. But the trickle of energy soon began to grow in volume. At this rate, the incomplete Qi-driven sword could unravel entirely.
In the midst of the desperate alarm hammering his chest—
“Hyeon-yeong!”
Fierce Tiger Unit Captain and Martial Uncle Myeong-jin, whom he’d been waiting for, came tearing in at breakneck speed.
‘Thank heavens! Now I can finish this!’
Myeong-jin, who had been sprinting from a great distance, sensed something wrong mid-stride and pushed his movement art to full speed. What greeted his eyes left him aghast.
“Hyeon-yeong…… don’t tell me……! Did you use Innate Energy?!”
“Martial Uncle! You’re just in time. Quickly, that man——”
“You utter fool!!”
“……”
He had known Hyeon-yeong’s temperament lacked flexibility, but he hadn’t imagined the boy would commit something this reckless.
“No matter how desperate the situation, Innate Energy…… to use Innate Energy!”
“But, Martial Uncle, right now that man——”
“Shut your mouth!”
Myeong-jin’s gaze turned to Jin So-un. Drenched head to toe in blood, carrying Dam Ak on his back, gripping a Qi-driven sword with his bare hand. Even seeing it plainly with both eyes, the surreal scene stunned him—but only briefly, because the defiant look in the man’s eyes fanned his fury even higher.
“……To let it come to this. If you think you can be forgiv——”
Myeong-jin doubted his own eyes again.
‘He’s…… smiling?’
The blood-soaked man’s lips were curving into an elegant smirk.
“Fuck…… off! You’re the ones who’ll be begging. Not that I’ll forgive you.”
CLANG!
Myeong-jin’s sword shot from its scabbard. Hyeon-yeong had tapped his Innate Energy. To treat Hyeon-yeong, dealing with Dam Ak and Jin So-un could not be delayed. He had to dispose of this seditious traitor at once——
“Try lifting a single finger. I’ll reverse the energy flow right now and turn Wudang’s precious disciple into a raving lunatic.”
Myeong-jin’s body froze before he even realized it.
“What?”
“What? Don’t want to lose Wudang’s secret weapon here?”
“How do you know about——”
The words slipped out reflexively; by the time he caught himself, it was too late.
“Is that really what matters right now? Are you going to save that lunatic or not? Seems like a pretty valuable talent for Wudang. Unless you don’t mind him dying here?”
“Martial Uncle! What are you hesitating for! This is our last chance to deal with Dam Ak.”
Paradoxically, Jin So-un was speaking for Hyeon-yeong’s life while Hyeon-yeong was speaking of his own death.
“Think carefully. It’s only been one shi since that lunatic tapped his Innate Energy. At this level, Wudang’s medical arts should be able to recover him to some degree, shouldn’t they?”
Myeong-jin’s mind grew even more tangled at Jin So-un’s words.
“……”
Once Innate Energy had been touched, there was no recovering one’s original level. But if it was Hyeon-yeong—this child—even with diminished ability, his innate comprehension would still far exceed that of anyone else. That conviction filled Myeong-jin’s mind.
Moreover, Hyeon-yeong was not a child meant to be expended so suddenly.
“What do you want?”
“Martial Uncle!”
“Shut up!!”
Myeong-jin bellowed at Hyeon-yeong.
“You brought this on yourself by pushing recklessly without taking care of yourself. Stay still!”
“What are you saying?! Dam Ak is an existence that must be eradicated for the sake of the future!”
“……He is not that important a figure.”
“What do you——”
“……”
Myeong-jin said no more. Instead, he turned to Jin So-un.
“State your terms.”
“Nothing much. Put the sword away and swear on Wudang’s name.”
After a moment’s thought, Myeong-jin nodded.
“And?”
“And what? Just patch up that lunatic and get back to Mount Wudang already.”
“……Fine. On three, you release him.”
“Got it.”
Jin So-un nodded. Myeong-jin immediately began counting.
“One. Two.”
And faster than anyone, Myeong-jin gathered true qi into both palms.
“Three!”
On three, he lunged at Jin So-un.
“Son of a bitch, I knew you’d pull that!”
Jin So-un’s sword twisted in a bizarre arc and dragged Hyeon-yeong toward him. By a hair’s breadth, Hyeon-yeong was wedged between Jin So-un and Myeong-jin. Myeong-jin realized the ploy too late and tried desperately to pull back his outstretched hand, but——
“No!”
THWACK!
A Fist Projection struck Hyeon-yeong square in the chest.
“GUHK!”
The light of the Qi-driven sword vanished in an instant, and Hyeon-yeong retched up an entire bowlful of blood.
“Hy-Hyeon-yeong!!!”
Ashen-faced, Myeong-jin cradled Hyeon-yeong in his arms. Despite losing that much blood, Hyeon-yeong himself was in a daze.
‘Not…… that important a figure? Then……’
What, then, had he been fighting for? What had the people who died carrying out this mission been? Were their sacrifices taken for granted while Wudang’s sacrifice…… was not?
[Lucky you. I wanted to show you what real sacrifice means.]
Jin So-un’s voice, the one that had roused him from the darkness, echoed once more. And it jolted Hyeon-yeong’s mind awake again. Could those words have been directed not at him, but at Wudang?
“Just hold on! Hyeon-yeong!”
Cradled in Myeong-jin’s arms as the man frantically struck acupoints for emergency treatment, Hyeon-yeong gazed endlessly at the retreating figure of Jin So-un—the man sprinting away into the distance with Dam Ak in his arms.
‘Real…… sacrifice……’
Repeating the words the man had left behind, over and over.