Chapter 109
**CHAPTER TITLE: Year 15**
“Has your artifact refining already reached nearly complete?”
“Yes, the conceptual phase is almost over. We’re now at the stage where we just need to fully flesh out the structure and begin actual production.”
“Hoo…”
I felt a quiet sense of anticipation rise within me.
I had no interest in new artifacts, yet I couldn’t help wondering exactly what masterpiece the young woman in front of me would create.
“Would you be willing to tell me what kind of artifact it is?”
“Ah, that’s a secret. Once I’ve finished drawing up the complete structure, I’ll tell you.”
“Hmm… I see.”
“Also, there’s something I’d like you to do for me, Seo Doo.”
“Mm?”
She took my hand and led me to her workshop.
“Starting today, you’ll learn artifact refining as well.”
“Umm…?”
“Among the conditions she set for me, one was that the artifact I would make had to be simple enough for you to produce on your own.”
I let out a dry chuckle.
“So you’re trying to turn this student of yours into a true artifact master just to clear that condition?”
“Ahaha, don’t worry. It’s really not that difficult. As long as you can make one simple thing, you’ll be able to create the artifact I designed.”
I thought for a moment, then nodded.
“If that’s the case, I’ll learn from you.”
After all, learning a bit about artifact refining would be useful sooner or later.
And so the lesson began.
***
The first step of artifact refining was simply to get used to creating things with my own hands.
I grew accustomed to using Buk Hyang-hwa’s workshop and learned how to make simple crafts from scratch.
**Uwooong!**
**Chiiiii…**
I stood before the glass craft I had just finished with my own hands in Buk Hyang-hwa’s workshop.
Since rare materials were off-limits for beginners, the first lesson was to make glass crafts from the sand scattered across the desert and grow familiar with the craft.
“Hmm…”
Buk Hyang-hwa looked at the glass craft I had made.
“What is this?”
“It’s a cursed doll. The one that appears in my technique.”
“People usually make cursed dolls in the shape of humans, right? Is this…?”
“…It’s a person.”
At my words, Buk Hyang-hwa covered her mouth and looked away, her muscles shifting as she tried not to laugh.
“Haha… It seems you have no talent for making things, Seo Doo.”
“…I’ve never had any talent for creating anything.”
“*Sigh…*”
After a moment of thought, she said to me, “Let’s keep making them for now. You’ll get better little by little.”
“Thank you for the encouragement, but…”
My skill at making things wasn’t improving at all.
The glass doll that had been shaped like a sea cucumber had slowly taken on human form, but it still looked far too crude in Buk Hyang-hwa’s eyes.
She taught me not only how to make artifacts but also how to use them.
To make artifacts, you had to become familiar with their use.
Buk Hyang-hwa and I started special training together with Kim Young-hoon.
**Buwoong, buuuuung!**
I controlled her bee puppet to fight Kim Young-hoon while she observed the puppet I controlled, noting weaknesses, places that needed repair, and new inspirations that occurred to her.
I moved the bee puppet and, at the same time, controlled the various artifacts she had made to press Kim Young-hoon back.
**Heuuueup!**
**Kwaaang!**
Kim Young-hoon was sent flying by the artifact, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The artifacts were powered by artifact power, yet their movements perfectly followed my will. It was training that helped both me and Buk Hyang-hwa.
While training Buk Hyang-hwa and Kim Young-hoon, I constantly showed him the path to the next realm and honed him.
Buk Hyang-hwa had me practice making glass crafts in the shape of sea cucumbers at first, then in the shape of blades.
Because I was already familiar with the shape, making them in blade form was slightly easier.
I kept producing glass blade crafts until I gradually became familiar with the act of “making” itself.
Months passed.
When I looked up, I was surprised to find that I was now working at Buk Hyang-hwa’s artifact store.
It wasn’t artifact refining, but I explained artifacts to visiting monks and sold them, and I handled their management.
“Hey, boss. This one’s qi looks off.”
“Hyung Kim doesn’t need artifacts anyway. And the store owner is Buk Seonja, not me.”
“*Kuk kuk*, when a married couple runs a shop, both are the owners. What are you talking about?”
“What are you saying…?”
After setting down the glass blade he had been observing, Kim Young-hoon looked at me and said, “Haven’t we been living together here with you and Buk Seonja for several months? Word’s already spread that the store is run by a young monk couple.”
“…”
“It seems her father is already planning for you two to get married soon. *Hahaha*, I don’t know when you’ll actually do it, but congratulations.”
Buk Jung-ho and Kim Young-hoon had become drinking buddies.
‘Damn it. Why did the rumor spread so far…’
Feeling a bit helpless, I dragged the useless talk out of Kim Young-hoon and sent him outside. I stepped out into the nearby market.
Buk Hyang-hwa had asked me to buy paper for her artifact designs, so I had come on an errand.
When I arrived at the paper shop.
“Ah, it’s the Venerable Sir! You’re not the Venerable Sir, are you?”
“Eh?”
The old woman shopkeeper at the paper store smiled brightly and handed me a bundle of paper.
“I saw you strolling happily with the Observers’ Venerable’s daughter. I heard you were already living together recently. Aren’t you two married?”
I was taken aback, so the old woman looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked, “You haven’t been married yet?”
“Ah, no….”
When I was flustered by the old woman’s words, the owner of the neighboring shop came out and added a comment.
“No one in this town doesn’t know that you two Venerables are in love.”
“Indeed. I’ve watched you two stick together for years.”
“…”
It seemed that word had spread inside the town that Buk Hyang-hwa and I were already operating the store as a married monk couple.
‘This is insane.’
Just how had the rumor spread so far?
I received the unexpected congratulations of the townspeople and returned to the workshop carrying the bundle of paper.
***
“What? You two are still just dating?”
Kim Young-hoon swung his blade at me.
I read his intent, read the trajectory, and blocked every attack.
“We haven’t said anything to each other yet.”
“Uuuuugh! I’m going to explode! Even if you say so, why hasn’t Buk Seonja said anything to you? My read on her intent was…”
“Stop it.”
After repelling Kim Young-hoon’s blades, I aimed my hand at his vital point and said, “Right, I lost this time too. But… I’m starting to get the feel of it little by little.”
His speed was indeed beginning to drift away from what it had been before.
If I continued training like this for a few more years, I might even grasp the realm of Wol-do-ip-cheon.
“But why can’t you grasp the feeling of human emotions yet? Aren’t you supposed to start confessing and dating properly?”
“Stop it, I already told you.”
With a sigh, I ended my spar with Kim Young-hoon and descended to Buk Hyang-hwa’s workshop to practice today’s production lesson together with her.
I could hear Kim Young-hoon shouting from behind me.
“Hey, you bastard! At least confess already! I’m about to die from the frustration!”
‘Frustrating enough to die…’
That was exactly how I felt too.
I let out a soft sigh and stepped into Buk Hyang-hwa’s workshop.
***
More years passed.
**Uwooong!**
I pulled a newly made glass blade craft from Buk Hyang-hwa’s workshop.
“Well, your skill at making crafts has improved. This should be almost indistinguishable from a real blade, right?”
“You taught me well, Venerable Sir.”
I looked around at not only the glass blades but also the glass dolls I had made.
My skill at glass crafting had grown so much that the dolls now looked quite realistic.
Recently, I had also begun attempting to make other things besides dolls and blades.
“By the way, Seo Doo, did you make another sea cucumber again?”
“…No, it’s not a sea cucumber. It’s a flower.”
“Ah, a flower. My apologies.”
“It’s fine. It’s because I have no real talent.”
I chatted with her for a moment, then stepped outside.
By now, we had already been living in Cheon-saek Castle for nearly ten years.
I knew every path in the castle and had grown close with the people here.
Regression year 10.
A long and short time.
Within it, many changes had occurred.
“Venerable Seo, hello.”
“Hello, Venerable Seo.”
I greeted the passing old man, then the neighbors nearby, and stepped out of Cheon-saek Castle.
Into the Dabcheon Desert.
Many changes had occurred, but the greatest one was, of course…
**Buwoong, buung, buuuwoong!**
Kim Young-hoon had, through endless sparring and endurance training, grown close to the realm of Wol-do-ip-cheon.
In the state of no-self, he danced with his blade, weaving countless martial principles, and struck down each grain of sand carried by the desert wind one by one.
Truly insane martial skill!
**Hwoong, huuuwoong!**
Golden qi gradually condensed around his blade dance.
It was not forced light, but pure, natural light like the sun itself.
‘For the past few days, he’s been in this state.’
It was the state just before reaching enlightenment.
‘Indeed, Hyung Kim. How far will you go this time?’
Ten years.
In just ten years, he intends to cross the boundary and reach the realm of Wol-do-ip-cheon.
He still had over fifty years left to him.
‘Show me!’
His blade dance gradually quickened.
He said he had stepped on the desert sand without leaving a single footprint.
And at one moment.
‘His heart has stabilized…!’
I felt Kim Young-hoon’s heart suddenly expand and clarify.
It was the same shape I had seen before.
A massive blade formed from a golden river!
At the same time his heart clarified, a light flashed in Kim Young-hoon’s eyes.
His consciousness domain shone like a golden sun and resided in his blade body.
“Wol-do-ip-cheon.”
**Ku gu gu gu gu gu!**
“Gwangdo!”
**Bwoong!**
Golden light exploded outward, rising toward the sky and slicing through the cloud that had been drifting over the desert.
And from within the golden light, Kim Young-hoon emerged with an expression full of joy at having reached the heavens.
“I reached it! Seo Eun-hyun!”
He caught his blade body with a hopeful face and said to me.
“Come on!”
**Hwaak!**
Gwangdo came surging toward me.
I saw the familiar speed and chuckled.
‘This is it.’
It was the real Gwangdo, not the clumsy fake that imitated it!
**Kwaaang!**
I drew out my Invisible Sword and clashed with Gwangdo. A massive explosion swept across the desert.
Golden light flashed, and Kim Young-hoon vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.
I blinked rapidly and spread my Invisible Sword wide.
The Invisible Sword became a massive storm that swept the surroundings, and Kim Young-hoon, who had been flying at speeds beyond light, darted about like a bird facing a storm, evading my Invisible Sword wildly.
‘Excellent…!’
**Paaaat!**
Kim Young-hoon, who had arrived in front of me after slicing through the blink of an eye, brought his golden blade down upon me.
I transformed my Invisible Sword into a wall that instantly blocked the space between us and poured countless colorless trajectories at him again.
Between one second and the next, between one blink and the next, thousands of exchanges clashed.
The desert was carved away, sand turned to glass, valleys formed, and clouds were torn apart.
**Kwa kwa kwa gwang!**
I tore at the golden light and slipped inside Kim Young-hoon’s embrace to strike upward with my Invisible Sword.
From the narrow gap of a blink, Kim Young-hoon defended against my Invisible Sword at the speed of light and landed nearly thirty attacks upon me.
I covered his attacks with the trajectories of my Invisible Sword, lifted him into the sky, and continued the exchange.
**Chwaaak!**
We tore through the desert clouds and rose above them.
**Chwaak!**
Even inside the dry clouds of the desert, a trace of moisture remained.
But the moisture that reached us evaporated instantly upon contact, and only a few drops remained around us.
**Kwaa aang!**
The few remaining drops of water were swept away by our colliding palms and vanished.
The number of drops between us had been reduced to a handful.
Seven drops.
**Piiit!**
Kim Young-hoon’s Gwangdo pierced through the trajectory of my Invisible Sword and dove into my embrace.
The Invisible Sword triggered seventy-three changes in an instant, disrupting Gwangdo, then covered him with hundreds of changes.
One of the seven drops burst and evaporated in that clash.
The remaining six drops were slowly falling downward.
As if we had agreed, we followed the drops and continued the exchange while falling.
Kim Young-hoon circled back around me and pressed me from all directions.
I extended my Invisible Sword outward and caught his true form. One drop burst, leaving five drops.
**Paaang, pang, paaang!**
After several more exchanges, we looked at each other.
Since we had been exchanging blows while descending at the speed of the falling drops, the ground was gradually getting closer.
**Uwoong!**
I condensed the changes of my Invisible Sword into two drops and shot them at Kim Young-hoon.
All the variations of the Danak Sword Art were contained within.
If you met it head-on, your entire body would be torn apart!
Kim Young-hoon examined the two drops and, with Gwangdo in hand, struck precisely at the weakest point of the variation.
The two drops burst again, leaving three drops between us.
Kim Young-hoon’s attack began.
He used the breath of mountain wind to stab at me, and another drop burst upon contact.
I barely dodged the stab, but a small scar formed on my face that I could not avoid.
**Kiieeing!**
Hundreds of thousands of variations of my Invisible Sword surged over Kim Young-hoon like a tidal wave.
**Kwaa aang!**
He tried to escape the variation but could not shake off my Invisible Sword techniques and fell straight down.
One more drop burst, leaving only one drop.
We landed on the ground faster than the drop and caught our breath.
The drop fell completely to the ground.
**Paaa aat!**
Kim Young-hoon’s Gwangdo shone.
Kim Young-hoon’s qi connected with Gwangdo like a blood vessel, sucking in qi from the outside.
Gwangdo acted as my inner dan. Kim Young-hoon caught his breath in that state.
I held my Invisible Sword at the same time. The pure qi within me connected with the Invisible Sword, and I felt my life force also link with it.
My Invisible Sword had become an outer dan and amplified the qi.
When the last remaining drop fell to the exact height between us.
We smiled without hesitation and poured our greatest strikes toward each other.
In the moment when the last drop evaporated on its own under the momentum of our martial skills.
“I have decided to confess.”
I told him, through the intense sparring and the emotions within it, the decision I had made.