The Crest of Changcheon Gaebyeokmun (2)
“Wiiiiiing!”
“Flaaaat!”
The third ray of light shot from General Seo’s eyes.
“Grrruuuuugh!”
The Nascent Soul elder of Seoryeongmun, Wi Tak, frowned deeply and blocked the ray.
‘A mere sprat who can barely manage Qi Condensation should not even know how to summon a Void Realm puppet…!’
Yet he only wore a look of irritation.
It had been no hardship at all.
It was barely a nascent puppet in the early stages of Void Formation.
Just a few steps beyond Core Formation Great Completion.
Even if his law power was lacking, he could not lose.
‘The law technique is almost complete. Now…’
He was about to finish the technique and erase the puppet before him.
“Puuuurp!”
The puppet labeled “General Seo,” who had been gathering light rays with his eyes, suddenly exploded by itself.
Wi Tak tilted his head in confusion for a moment, then understood the situation.
“Ah… I see.”
It was simple.
He could unleash a Nascent Soul-grade attack three times, but no more.
If he tried to fire a fourth ray, the puppet would break.
A performance that was almost laughably useless.
“Tsk tsk. That’s why calling it a Core Formation puppet that can only fire Nascent Soul-grade attacks three times is perfectly fitting.”
A mocking smile curled at the corner of Wi Tak’s mouth.
“Well, what an interesting rebellion. Then now, obediently…”
But the moment he looked down at where Seo Eun-hyun stood…
His eyes widened in disbelief.
“…Eh?”
Seventeen General Seos were drawing energy from Seo Eun-hyun’s side.
Seo Eun-hyun clicked his tongue and formed a seal.
“Kugugugu!”
“Udeuk!”
A brand-new eighteenth puppet materialized beside him.
“One puppet can fire Nascent Soul-grade attacks three times before breaking. As expected, the materials are too inferior. Even if it’s Goe-gun’s circuit, it can’t endure…”
“Wh-what…!?”
“Clang, clang, clang!”
All eighteen General Seos opened their mouths at once.
“Flaaaaaat!”
“Firing. All General Seos, fire!”
Eighteen white rays erupted simultaneously from the puppets’ mouths and hurtled toward Wi Tak.
He had released the technique he had prepared, but before the eighteen rays it shattered into nothing.
Enveloped in the torrent of light, Wi Tak let out a low curse.
* * *
I stared at the Seoryeongmun elder who had fallen like a charred lump.
“C, cck…!?”
Indeed, like the Nascent Soul ascetic he was, even though his entire body was charcoal, he had not died.
“H, hwaaak! Hwaaak!”
Of course, he had fled while staring at me as if he had seen a terrifying nightmare.
“Thud! Ttuduk…”
The elder’s clothes tore, and several objects fell from his robe.
I walked over slowly and picked them up.
A few talismans.
And a scroll of law qi emitting faint spatial fluctuations.
“This is…”
I tried to open the scroll, but it would not unfold because of the prohibition.
‘A prohibition…’
I looked at the scroll for a moment and let out a small laugh.
“Patsutsutsu…”
My fingertips drew in qi.
At the same time, Goe-gun’s circuits began to appear on the surface of the scroll.
The grand circuits that had moved the mad castle.
Circuits that imitated the soul of a living being.
They spread across the law qi and began to seize control of it.
“Wiiiiiing!”
Not long after…
Goe-gun’s circuits pierced the prohibition on the scroll.
“Paaang!”
A faint light burst from the scroll, and the incantation runes forming the prohibition cracked and fell away.
“Uuuung!”
I infused spiritual power into the scroll.
The scroll rose into the air.
And…
“Churruk!”
The scroll unfolded in the void.
“This is…”
A scroll of twilight.
Inside the scroll, several pictures were drawn.
I cautiously reached toward the pictures.
My hand slipped naturally into the center of the image.
“Heu…”
I reached out and grabbed one of the objects inside the picture.
“Uuuung!”
A powerful spiritual treasure that emitted light and looked extremely strong.
“It’s more convenient than the twilight technique…”
A normal twilight technique could not show its interior, so there was the side effect of having to search for a long time when you put something in and wanted to take it out again.
Of course, if you put your consciousness inside the twilight technique and search, you could find it quickly.
But the very fact that you could confirm what was where by eyesight alone provided enormous convenience.
I rummaged through the elder’s scroll and began to extract his assets.
‘One pair of phantom blade law treasures. Several unknown poisonous herbs. Books on spiritual beasts, spiritual fishes, and spiritual insects… and also… four million spiritual stones?’
This was more than enough to cover the annual budget of a lower-realm noble family.
‘…And six unknown talismans. Every single one exuded extraordinary spiritual qi. And finally, this is…’
I pulled out a pure white jade tablet from a corner of the scroll.
‘Oh, this is a cultivation method from Seoryeongmun?’
The jade tablet was covered with dense writings in the Gwanghan Realm language.
‘…Hm. I’ll have to learn the Gwanghan Realm language again.’
I sighed softly and placed the jade tablet in my robe for later.
After a while.
Changhoja defeated the highest elder of Seoryeongmun and declared victory over Seoryeongmun.
“From now on, this land belongs to our Great Changcheon Gaebyeokmun! All of you, get out!”
The elder who had been defeated by Changhoja gnashed his teeth and flew away somewhere.
Following him, the Seoryeongmun disciples scattered in panic.
“Heahaha. We won! Everyone, prepare to move!”
“Kugugugugu!”
Changhoja took out a pennant from his robe.
On the pennant was a landscape painting he had seen before.
The painting suddenly began to emit light.
“Flaaaaaat!”
At the same time, the mountain drawn on the painting began to burst out of the scroll.
“Kugugugugu!”
A small mountain range fell beside the peak of Seoryeongmun and created a new small peak next to it.
“Kuuuung!”
An enormous boom echoed in all directions, and a cloud of dust rose.
‘…Even seeing it again is insane.’
Bringing your own sect intact into a victorious battle inside a space law technique… how ridiculous…
“Kuung!”
I stood still watching the sight, and before Oh Hye-seo, who was still struggling to understand the situation inside the chariot…
Changhoja descended from the sky.
“Now, you are also disciples of Changcheon Gaebyeokmun. From now on, I will tell you where you will live.”
That day on Changhan-do in the Gwanghan Realm.
Life under Changcheon Gaebyeokmun began there.
* * *
After completing the hierarchy settlement with Seoryeongmun.
Changhoja sent people to surrounding sects and announced that Changhan Cheil Jongmun had become Changcheon Gaebyeokmun that day.
At the same time, he summoned the Changhan-do Total Commander, who oversaw the disputes on Changhan-do, and formally registered the sect.
With the help of the Inhuman Total Alliance, he invited people from the Inhuman Total Alliance and held grand lectures on the Gwanghan Realm language, geography, climate, daily culture, and astronomy of the Gwanghan Realm.
In particular, learning the Gwanghan Realm language and astronomy was essential for cultivation, so they had to be studied properly.
‘In the Gwanghan Realm, that star is a gas giant.’
In my previous life I would have invaded neighboring races through the Wondrous Castle and kidnapped them to forcibly extract information.
But in this life, I could systematically acquire information beneath Changheon Gaebyeokmun.
And Oh Hye-seo, who still could not understand what was going on, quickly learned the Gwanghan Realm language.
And it took about six months for Changcheon Gaebyeokmun to fully settle on Changhan-do.
* * *
“Huu…”
“You are improving a little.”
“Yes, thank you, Seo Sunbae.”
The past six months had been incredibly busy.
Learning the Gwanghan Realm language, memorizing the stars of the Gwanghan Realm from the beginning.
Not only that, settling on Changhan-do and being called all over the completely reorganized Changcheon Gaebyeokmun to make acquaintances.
‘I was fine, but I wonder how Hye-seo-ssi was doing.’
He had been dropped into an unfamiliar place for the first time, learned an unfamiliar language, and made acquaintances with unfamiliar people, so he must have been terribly busy.
During those six months we had only known each other existed, we had moved around so much that we barely got to see each other’s faces properly.
But lately the sect had stabilized a little, and a chance to meet again had appeared, so I had been training Oh Hye-seo in my body.
“Moving the body does help a little. As expected, just moving around doesn’t dispel trivial thoughts. By the way, Seo Sunbae, back at the company I only ever saw you slacking off… but you also look like a fitness trainer. How strange.”
“Hehe, thank you.”
‘What is a fitness trainer?’
Anyway, the praise had clearly been genuine, so I accepted it with a laugh.
“Hye-seo-ssi still handles your body quite well.”
I watched Oh Hye-seo’s movements and evaluated him.
He was teaching basic fist techniques.
He clearly did not have the innate talent to immediately understand the truth of martial arts like Kim Young-hoon, but he was controlling his body quite well.
“Well, that was always the case at the company. No matter how many times we went hiking with Young-hoon boss, the female employees would all faint in the middle, the two of us would be left exhausted, and only Young-hoon and I would always reach the summit. Hahaha!”
“The two of them just had bodies that were always well-trained.”
As we talked, faint memories from the company began to surface in my mind.
There was one time I went on a company hiking workshop with Jeon Myeong-cheol.
Jeon Myeong-cheol had gone up a bit, then fallen to a watering hole, and only the rest were supposed to reach the summit and get their certification.
So Kim Young-hoon and Oh Hye-seo had climbed first.
The female employees had all fainted and sat on benches, and I and the former section chief had barely made it up, only to collapse in front of a steep slope.
‘Thinking back to that time…’
Kim Young-hoon had adjusted his stamina perceptively without wasting it, while Oh Hye-seo had continued until the end no matter how much stamina he wasted.
‘He really was a monster-like body from the start…’
I watched Oh Hye-seo, who had finished his physical training, and briefly recalled the distant past.
That was when…
“Kuuuung!”
A blue light had fallen from afar and landed right in front of us.
After a while the light faded, and a human figure walked out from inside it.
He was about eight feet tall.
Bare-chested, with abs carved like a knife.
Changhoja.
“This disciple greets Master.”
“I, I greet Master.”
Still clumsy with the language and etiquette of this world, Oh Hye-seo stumbled through his greeting.
But Changhoja laughed heartily as if such formalities were irrelevant.
“No need for unnecessary formalities. I have come because the Changheon Gaebyeokmun is settling on Changhan-do, and it seems you have become fluent in the Gwanghan Realm language… It is time to learn the ascetic cultivation method.”
“Thank you.”
“Ah, yes… thank you.”
Oh Hye-seo still did not understand the ascetic cultivation method well and followed me with a puzzled expression.
“Then before teaching the method, let us properly assess your aptitudes.”
Changhoja said, muscles flexing.
Except for the very first day of the battle in the Gwanghan Realm, he had almost always trained shirtless.
Was that manly?
“First, the main cultivation method of Changcheon Gaebyeokmun is specialized for combat. Of course, we obtained a few other ascetic methods while conquering Seoryeongmun, but they are not the mainstream.
Oh Hye-seo, you possess the legendary physique called Ilmunseongche. Seo Eun-hyun, I don’t know what it is, but you can win alone. Both of you are sufficient as my direct disciples.”
While listening to his words, I felt a strange premonition.
In short, because you are my direct disciples, you do not need the cultivation methods we obtained from Seoryeongmun. We will learn my secret cultivation method. First, before that, to determine what we should focus on and how we will be taught, let us do a simple test today.”
“…May I ask what this so-called simple test is?”
Feeling the premonition, I asked cautiously.
And Changhoja smiled slyly and raised his fist.
Why was his fist the size of a human head?
“We will have unlimited free sparring for a whole day today. Come on, both of you try to attack first. I will match my strength to the Qi Condensation level and fight.”
“That’s…”
Before Oh Hye-seo could even understand, “Kwaaang!”
Changhoja’s fist the size of a human head struck Oh Hye-seo in the stomach.
Oh Hye-seo flew far away with his eyes rolled back.
“Piit!”
The next moment.
A red line descended toward my belly.
I hurriedly read the intent and dodged the fist.
And the next instant, Changhoja’s fist struck the giant rock behind where I had been standing.
“Kkururung!”
With that single strike, the rock exploded into pieces and scattered in all directions.
I was silent for a moment, then said to Changhoja.
“…Y-you said you would match the strength to Qi Condensation?”
“Hm? When I was in the Qi Condensation realm, that’s what I used to do.”
“…”
By any standard it was a Foundation Establishment-grade strike.
I once again stared at Changhoja’s monstrosity and took my stance.
‘I should not use martial arts.’
I did not know exactly what constituted true intent.
And I did not know how an Inhuman expert could distinguish it.
So preserving one’s body was the answer.
But…
‘Still, if it’s just “moving the body”…’
Using the Invisible Sword or the True Mirror Sword was unnecessary.
Purely relying on the consciousness domain to read and dodge the opponent’s attack should be fine.
“Hehe, you dodged my strike. As expected, a promising kid. Then… shall we continue?”
“Kuuung!”
When Changhoja stomped his foot, blue light welled up from beneath it and flowed toward Oh Hye-seo, who was vomiting blood and unconscious.
I broke out in cold sweat.
‘Even if the whole body is shattered, he keeps recovering and training…’
What kind of insane training method is this?
‘No, it’s not even training yet. It’s just assessing aptitudes before training…’
I swallowed hard.
Changhoja’s training method was perhaps even harsher than I imagined.
“Well, now that we have a usable disciple, let us have some fun!”
“Buung!”
Changhoja laughed heartily and rushed at me who was still standing.
“Flaaat!”
I dodged by reading Changhoja’s intent.
And at that moment.
“Flaaat!”
The trajectory of the intent changed, and the intent became unrecognizable in an instant.
At the same time.
“Piit!”
Changhoja’s fist grazed my side with a hair’s breadth.
If I had made even the slightest mistake, I would have been hit.
And I gulped in shock, and Changhoja smiled slyly.
“Changing intent… This is Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown…!?”
“Oh ho, you dodged it ‘after seeing’ it. So you have reached Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown as well?”
“Kung! Kuuung!”
Changhoja clapped his fists with joy.
Every time, blue qi flickered around him.
“…I never imagined the master of Great Changcheon Gaebyeokmun would have learned the techniques of villains. Have you… learned martial arts?”
“Hm, I didn’t exactly learn martial arts. But… since my cultivation method itself is one that trains the body, I naturally fought with my body a lot, and fighting with my body often… At some point, while fighting, I saw the opponent’s intent visualized before my eyes.”
From Changhoja’s body, thousands of threads flowed out.
Each one optimized for attack!
I broke out in cold sweat, blocked the threads with my own intent, and dodged them all.
“And from some point, while fighting, fighting, fighting again… I saw the opponent’s intent and my intent mixing and changing color. From that day, I could also see the colors of other human emotions when concentrated. Well, of course I didn’t pay attention to intent that was not related to combat, so I didn’t delve into general emotions… but…”
“Buung, boong, boong!”
Changhoja’s fists filled up the sky, down, left, right.
“I realized that the realm called Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown by the villains is quite suitable for combat! Hehehe, so you have also reached Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown! Good, let us have some fun!”
Changhoja’s face became even more excited as he poured more power into his fists and pushed at me.
‘Of course, Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown usually blooms in extreme real combat…’
If Changhoja mainly fought in close combat, it was only natural that he had reached the realm of Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown.
‘Anyway…’
As I dodged Changhoja’s fists, I felt a rare hunger in a long time.
‘How long has it been since we exchanged intents and sparred?’
Things that I could not have tried if it weren’t for Kim Young-hoon.
But a normal martial artist could not match because the size was too different.
But here I could match intents, and in terms of size there were even opponents more distant than me.
‘For a long time… let us have some fun?’
I smiled wickedly and exchanged intents with Changhoja.
Blue lines and red lines intertwined in the void and turned into colored lines.
The actions and movements of both were predicted.
Lines extending from Changhoja headed toward my forehead.
A strike that could shatter my skull.
I twisted my head slightly and dodged the fist.
Then I sent the intent straight toward Changhoja’s legs.
Changhoja instead kicked toward me, but the intent I sent was a feint.
I grabbed the arm of Changhoja, who had not yet retracted his fist, and used the force in his fist to bounce him gently into the air.
“Paaang!”
“…”
Of the force in his fist, I stimulated a part and changed the direction.
Changhoja’s changed force collided inside his arm, and he must have taken a little damage from his own strength.
“Hoo…”
Changhoja’s eyes seemed strangely sparkling.
“Chiiii…”
Changhoja’s arm that had received a slight shock was covered in blue light.
“…Very good. Excellent… Then, shall we continue?”
“Taat!”
Changhoja rushed at me again.
I twisted the knee kick attack by half a beat and countered with a rib strike.
I stomped my foot to step on mine, but I jumped half a step back and dodged.
I kicked his hip and countered.
After he twisted his head to dodge, he struck my upper arm three times and countered.
When he struck down with his elbow, I slipped inside his robe and struck his collarbone in return.
When he tried to hug me and trap me, I struck his solar plexus and then slipped back down.
Immediately after, seven red intents headed toward me.
Each aiming at my lower body, trying to make me dodge.
But instead I shot forward and fired fourteen intents toward Changhoja’s vital points.
“Buung, boong, boong!”
Changhoja did not protect his vital points and extended attacks toward me.
But I jumped on my toes and dodged all seven attacks.
Then, as planned, I struck all of Changhoja’s vital points.
But…
‘I hit him, but why am I the one who’s hurt…’
I let out a hollow laugh and looked at my still swollen fist.
‘Even though I’m shirtless, it feels like I’m hitting steel, not flesh…’
In pure close combat and the realm of martial arts, I was overwhelming Changhoja.
But in a different sense from the ascetic, our sizes were different.
Hard! Too stupidly hard!
And if you took even one punch from that fist, you would feel like your limbs would disintegrate.
I would die from one punch, but the opponent forced a bizarre unreasonableness where you could survive thousands of blows.
That was Changhoja’s fighting style.
‘If I used the Invisible Sword, I could reduce the shock…’
When I was licking my lips, Changhoja laughed with his mouth torn even wider and poured more power into his fists.
“Kugugugugu!”
“This is, sorry for holding back and fighting. Disciple…”
The air roiled.
“I already know your skill…”
“Uuuuuung!”
The qi of the atmosphere flowed into Changhoja’s body, visible to the naked eye.
“Now I will fight you at the Foundation Establishment level!”
“Puuung!”
At a speed comparable to the ascetic’s Bidoon technique, Changhoja rushed at me.
“Ugh…!”
I barely dodged Changhoja’s fist.
“Kwaaaaang!”
The small peak behind Changhoja’s fist flew away.
I let out a hollow laugh and said.
“…So that is Foundation Establishment?”
“When I was in the Foundation Establishment realm, that’s what I used to do. Geum Byeok-ho and Heuk-wak also say they used to do the same, so there’s nothing strange about it, is there?”
“…”
“Well, then, let’s take this too.”
“Flaaat!”
At the speed of a light ray, Changhoja appeared in front of me and raised his fist.
I swallowed my hollow laugh and quickly readjusted my posture and gathered qi at my fingertips.
And…
Changhoja and I collided.
* * *
“Shiiii…”
Changhoja clapped his two hands and brushed them off, looking at the disciple before him.
“Good, I have figured out how to teach you. Excellent. A disciple who has reached Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown… If you just train your body to be a little tougher, you will make an excellent sparring partner.”
“…”
Seo Eun-hyun gave no answer.
His eyes were rolled back, and his entire right arm and shoulder were shattered.
“…Tsk, it was too harsh.”
“Uuuung!”
Changhoja spat blue light and patted Seo Eun-hyun’s shoulder, and his right arm began to regrow.
While infusing life force into Seo Eun-hyun’s body and treating him, Changhoja looked at his own fist.
“…”
Seo Eun-hyun had sparred with Changhoja using only his bare fists from start to finish.
Even if Changhoja had held back his strength as a way to figure out how to teach his disciples, originally Seo Eun-hyun could have crushed him with just his pinky toe.
‘Hmm, this guy…’
Changhoja looked at the unconscious Seo Eun-hyun with a smile and said, “Thud, thud…”
Blood was seeping from cracks on Changhoja’s fists.
“It’s mysterious. They hit with bare fists…”
He thought while looking at the cracks.
‘This is like a sword wound, isn’t it?’
“Chiii…”
Although the cracks healed instantly when Changhoja poured power into them, Changhoja looked at Seo Eun-hyun with eyes full of curiosity.
‘I thought that kid with the Ilmunseongche was strange, but this guy might also have a very unusual aptitude…’
“Hehe.”
Changhoja laughed at Seo Eun-hyun.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how much of a monster you will become once you learn the Body Training Cultivation Method.”
Changhoja smiled slyly, turned around, and approached Oh Hye-seo, who was still coming to his senses.
“Well, let’s continue assessing your remaining aptitudes.”
“Wait, a moment…”
“Kwaaaaang!”
A while later.
In a corner of Changheon Gaebyeokmun, blue light flickered in front of Seo Eun-hyun’s and Oh Hye-seo’s quarters.
* * *
“Hah!”
‘Fifteenth death?’
I trembled as I looked around for Seo Hyul, but luckily he was not there.
“…I didn’t die.”
“Hehehehe, people don’t die that easily.”
“Start!”
I flinched and looked at Changhoja.
But I exhaled in relief after checking the surroundings.
Fortunately, there was the medicinal clinic of Changheon Gaebyeokmun.
“I showed an ugly face. I’m sorry, Master.”
“It’s fine. By the way, I already know your and Oh Hye-seo’s aptitudes roughly. I also know how you should be taught from now on. So from today, let us begin ascetic cultivation.”
“Uuuung!”
A scroll of twilight rose beside Changhoja.
The scroll unfolded, and the objects inside were revealed.
Changhoja reached inside the scroll and pulled out a huge stele.
“Kuuung!”
On the stele were densely written ascetic cultivation methods in the Byeokra Kingdom language.
“Well, this is the ascetic cultivation method you will learn from today.”
The name of the method was Starlight Body Protection Void.