A Thousand Points for the Extreme Thunder Technique
I stood before Gang Min-hee.
It had been five years since Jeon Myeong-hoon had departed for the Myeonggwi Realm. The proportion I had been feeding him had long since returned to the Grand Mausoleum Realm, and Gang Min-hee herself had reached the day when she would have to step back into the shortcut once more to manage it.
“Something I’ve always noticed… this world seems to flow with time faster than most. When I first saw you, you were still at the Nascent Soul Integration stage. Now you’re a late-stage Cheoninqi Patriarch. Remarkable.”
I deliberately lowered my own cultivation rank by removing the newly acquired level from the Grand Completion.
That was why my current rank sat at late Cheoninqi. Even so, after forcing myself down, I felt an inner certainty that nothing untoward would result.
“I shall be at the Four Pillars stage by the time I return.”
“I’m guessing… around fifty years from now? You think you’ll reach Four Pillars within fifty years?”
“Ah… it might be possible if I work hard enough.”
“I don’t know. Even for you, Four Pillars isn’t something you can force.”
“Four Pillars?”
“There’s such a thing.”
Gang Min-hee grinned and patted my shoulder.
By now I had grown quite close to her as Seo Lip.
It was no longer the pretense of a ghost king suspecting me and trying to win my trust. I was opening my heart to her in truth.
And the more I did so, the heavier the guilt grew within me.
“Well then, I’ll be going. Work hard, Patriarch Seo.”
She waved at me and turned her back, walking up the red pattern.
Kugugugu—
And, vomiting forth pitch-black yin qi, the form of Palcheokgwi appeared and descended below the pattern.
I stood there for a moment gazing at her, then formed the seal and sealed the pattern’s gate.
Fifty years later, Gang Min-hee would appear once more.
*Train. Work hard.*
I took out the body’s mark I had received from the original body.
I opened the body’s Jeungryong Jinin’s Pocket Dimension.
Wooong!
From within the body’s pocket dimension I drew out a single pitch-black skull.
It was the Gongfa record of the Six Extremes Yin Lei Divine Art.
Inside the skull a specter was dwelling, and I commanded it as the Ghost King.
[Recall the Gongfa level!]
At my command the specter jumped in fright and crawled out of the skull, beginning to recite the Six Extremes Yin Lei level.
The Six Extremes Yin Lei looked highly useful, but the level I had been given was one Seo Hyul had overheard from Heukgak and passed on to me. Until now I had been suspicious and had not learned it.
Now that I had somewhat mastered the Black Ghost Valley techniques as well, if there was anything suspicious I would detect it immediately.
I returned to my main body and finished reciting the entire level of the Six Extremes Yin Lei Gongfa.
Only then could I understand what purpose Heukgak had intended when delivering the Six Extremes Yin Lei to me.
*Heukgak… this guy is subtly evil.*
The Six Extremes Yin Lei could be learned from at least the Core Formation stage onward and was divided into seven stages.
However, its true power could only be exerted from the Nascent Soul stage onward—stage two. Stage one at Core Formation could only accumulate Yin Lei; it could not control it.
As time passed the quantity of Yin Lei increased, so practicing stage one at Core Formation and failing to control it at Nascent Soul risked exploding into a golden core, death, or demon tribulation.
The level Heukgak had given me contained only stage one.
*This is it… if I had really learned the Six Extremes Yin Lei, I’d probably be suffering right now…*
It was a malicious structure designed to make it impossible to learn the later stages of the Six Extremes Yin Lei without entering the Black Ghost Valley and receiving the complete level.
It looked as though Seo Hyul had whispered it to Heukgak at the time.
*That bastard Seo Hyul.*
I cursed Seo Hyul, went to the Gongfa Archive, and searched for the Six Extremes Yin Lei.
I listened from the archivist Song Gil to the gongje points required for the Six Extremes Yin Lei Gongfa and felt as if my eyeballs would pop out.
“…One thousand gongje points?”
“That’s right. The Six Extremes Yin Lei is an outstanding technique created by the geniuses of Black Ghost Valley in response to Taegeukjinlei of the Geumsin Cheonroemun. It possesses resistance to the power of lightning, which is the opposite of Ghost Dao techniques, and also holds considerable resistance to the Path of Devouring and Manifesting. At the same time, when confronting the same ghost entities it can reap enormous gains by utilizing Yin Lei. In theory it is a technique without weaknesses.”
“….”
*In the Geumsin Cheonroemun records, Taegeukjinlei is described in a tone that calls it a paper tiger that collapses upon meeting it due to its elemental weakness…*
To be honest, Seo Lip’s body had already mastered Taegeukjinlei.
It had originally been Yu-eui’s body and had been forcibly pushed to Cheoninqi by Yeon Wi’s brief dwelling. There was no need to seek out the Six Extremes Yin Lei, which I would only be beaten by.
I hesitated, then decided to learn the Six Extremes Yin Lei anyway.
*Even with a thousand points, it’s worth it.*
After becoming a Cheoninqi Patriarch I had performed a great many missions and had accumulated substantial gongje.
I received the Six Extremes Yin Lei, merged it with the Great Desert Dead Sea Formation, and began to practice.
***
*…How long has it been?*
I sat quietly in my mindscape and thought.
Thinking back, I had never before spent so long in mindscape cultivation.
*This feels strange.*
I had always practiced movement qi.
Dan-ak Sword Art, Invisible Sword, and other techniques alike.
I had always strengthened myself through movement qi.
That was why I had never truly trained in this kind of stillness qi.
No matter how hard I forced myself, when had I ever sat in mindscape for such a long time?
I focused my consciousness and felt the Invisible Sword.
The path of the Invisible Sword had already opened in my own body.
Martial intent could not be separated from the flesh, so by that alone Seo Hyul could borrow the form of the Invisible Sword from my flesh.
Of course, the more firmly I controlled my mindscape, the more impossible it would become.
*Control the Invisible Sword, and my mindscape will belong solely to me.*
No one can touch it.
This is mine alone.
I alone have attained it, and I alone can possess this sword.
This is my sword.
If I expanded this concept and linked it to the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram, I might be able to steal back the body’s sovereignty.
But I did not.
*I must not be impatient.*
Thinking back, I had always been impatient.
There had been so much I had to do!
To never fall behind the geniuses, to struggle even for what little I had in this cruel fate.
A moment of rest had been the only luxury.
That was why I had to be impatient.
To me effort had always been impatience,
and to be patient had been a great sin, a great waste.
*It’s not a sin.*
It was not evil.
People are born neither good nor evil.
What humanity must pursue is not good or evil but growth.
Can one obtain the Dao in the morning and die in the evening?
Humans live like that every day.
To live a life is already to teach the world countless things.
The idea that one can only obtain anything by never resting and working without fail might itself be pride.
The idea that only those who work can become better might be a denial of everyone who does not.
Then…
*I must not be impatient.*
Slowly, I would do what I could for sure.
I would control the Invisible Sword and make my mindscape mine alone.
I would approach its essence, gradually until I fully obtained the Invisible Sword.
***
Fifty years had passed.
Kwaaahng, kwaaahrrring!
After receiving the Heavenly Tribulation I finally attained the new Cheoninqi Grand Completion.
*What a strange feeling.*
The newly obtained Cheoninqi Grand Completion level was extremely long.
And extremely simple.
Yet it felt powerfully strong.
I felt oddly strange, however.
*If I truly obtain the orthodox qi axis, it might actually be incompatible with those orthodox qi axes.*
Is this really the correct level?
I felt a little doubtful, but it was not so strange, so I stabilized my rank.
All that remained was to promote to Four Pillars.
*Before the Jeungryong Jinin’s Pocket Dimension opens, I should be able to reach it…!*
I continued training with confidence.
*…On another note.*
Suddenly I felt something strange.
*Has it become time for Gang Min-hee to appear from the shortcut?*
Gang Min-hee was not appearing from the shortcut.
I felt a strange sensation, entered the shortcut manager’s office, and asked her doppelganger.
“Do you know what happened to the main body?”
The Gang Min-hee doppelganger puffed out a cigarette and said.
“…For fifty years I’ve been in seclusion… I guess I didn’t know.”
“Eh?”
At her next words I jumped.
“There were raiders in the Myeonggwi Realm and Hyeol-eum Realm. The ones who had come out a little to move around all knew about it, but I guess I didn’t, huh?”
“…I knew nothing at all.”
“Don’t just hole up and train. Come out, make friends, and live a little.”
“Um…”
*Hearing that from Gang Min-hee herself.*
She had no friends on Earth except Kim Yeon, yet she was lecturing me.
It was strangely entertaining.
“Then, Senior-nim… are you on vacation in the shortcut right now?”
“That’s how it is. Originally I should come out to Gwanghan Realm once every fifty years to get some air, but… from what the other Black Ghost senior-nims say, with my talent I can last even one hundred years in the shortcut without going crazy. I think the same.”
“…Is that so?”
I felt a vague unease.
“Still, if you’re going to take a rest, wouldn’t it be better to do it in Gwanghan Realm? If something attacks the Myeonggwi Realm from the shortcut…”
“Ah, it’s fine. The raider who attacked last time came from another shortcut to Gwanghan Realm, then entered our shortcut in Gwanghan Realm to attack me. Normally no raiders come through our shortcut from the Myeonggwi Realm side.”
“…Still, Senior-nim isn’t dead, right?”
“That’s true, but I’m more familiar with the dead than most, so it’s fine.”
I looked at her trying to dismiss my worry with a “it’s fine” and felt concerned.
*The Ghost Dao Holy Mother…*
It still came to mind.
Leading hundreds of millions of ghost hordes, screaming madly, swinging her ghost blade and splitting the Wondrous Castle in half.
“When will the main body come again?”
“Um, I think in about thirty years it will return to the Gwanghan Realm.”
“I see.”
*Then I must look after her mind a little at that time.*
Although I had sealed her mind once with the Soul-Sealing Awl, the worry about the Ghost Dao Holy Mother was somewhat less than before.
But the unease could not be helped.
I decided to wait for her and returned to the east.
“…Wait a moment.”
Suddenly I felt a strange sensation and assumed a posture.
Wuuuwoong!
I raised the Strong Radiance in the air, spun it, and merged.
I tried to create the Invisible Sword that way, but at some point the Invisible Sword forming on my palm dispersed into natural qi.
“…?”
*What on earth is this?*
The Invisible Sword no longer appeared.
The Invisible Sword was created by merging the Strong Radiance into a form and reflecting my mindscape upon it.
Yet strangely, my mindscape no longer reflected.
*What the hell…*
I broke into a cold sweat and tried again and again to raise the Invisible Sword.
All of them failed.
***
Weeiiiiing—
I lay on my back in the middle of the glass-sword mountain, eyes closed, focusing my will on my palm.
Above my palm the Triple Taiji spun.
Strangely, the more I controlled the Invisible Sword and made my mindscape obedient to me, the more phenomena I saw.
The intent split into three and spontaneously formed the Triple Taiji.
*Three…*
Somehow my martial intuition told me that the number three was more important than the taiji.
I recalled the feeling I had had when completing the previous Triple Taiji—the feeling of having been completed as “me.”
I focused my consciousness even more.
The rank of the Invisible Sword’s spirit.
Approaching my own essence.
Approaching the essence of the heart.
Even more.
Even more!
Piiiit—
I spun the Triple Taiji that had changed the Invisible Sword above my palm and gradually felt as if I were about to understand something.
***
*Maybe the separation from the main body is affecting it?*
But I could not conclude that.
I thought about it for a long time, then tried using the initial style of the Ocean of Righteousness.
The Ocean of Righteousness itself was not the Invisible Sword but a martial art belonging to the Dan-ak Sword Art, so there was no impropriety in using it.
*This should be enough.*
If I could only use the Ocean of Righteousness, I could surely hold Gang Min-hee’s mind in place.
Thirty years passed.
Gang Min-hee did not return from the shortcut.
And from some point on her doppelganger also vanished suddenly from her office.
“What on earth does that mean!?”
At my shout, Heukgak and the Black Ghost senior-nims cleared their throats.
“Has the shortcut been blocked? Isn’t managing the shortcut the job of the main sect?”
Heukgak cleared his throat.
“Seemingly the Patriarch Gang Min-hee did something inside the shortcut, Patriarch Seo.”
I had also received the title of Black Ghost Valley Patriarch after eighty years.
An outstanding talent who had entered the Black Ghost Valley less than one hundred years ago and stood before Four Pillars, I was recognized as a major resource.
“How is it impossible to open the shortcut?”
“We have tried everything— the sect’s techniques and artifacts, and even the Four Pillars Ghost Kings and Black Ghost senior-nims dwelling in the Grand Mausoleum Realm. All failed. It’s not a matter of strength but structure. It’s tightly sealed from the inside, so it can’t be opened.”
“Then… is there really no method?”
“Um… there is one method that can be attempted.”
At Heukgak’s words my eyes shone.
“What method?”
“The Gwanghan Realm, far from the human race territory… the Sap-pung Territory. That region is said to be extremely yin-heavy enough to create one more shortcut. After creating one more shortcut there, crossing from the shortcut to the shortcut and extracting the Patriarch Gang, there is a possibility.”
“Crossing from shortcut to shortcut… is it possible?”
“Shortcuts created with the same power are possible. The shortcut here and the one to be created there will both be based on the power of the Seopmyeong Ship, so it should be able to cross.”
“I see… Speaking of which, you said Sap-pung Territory?”
“That’s right.”
*The Sap-pung Territory…*
I felt as if I had heard that name somewhere before.
*If I use the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram I can remember it immediately, damn it…*
The Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram was engraved in the Colorless Glass Sword, which was currently with the main body turning into Seo Hyul.
While I was racking my brain, I had the feeling that I had heard the name Sap-pung Territory somewhere.
“Ah, Sap-pung Territory.”
It was the adjacent region of the Sato Territory where Jeungryong Jinin’s Pocket Dimension was hidden.
*The place I had promised to meet in the Black Lin Eagle Gate after four hundred and twenty years was also to join in the Sap-pung Territory and head to the Sato Territory.*
In that case it was actually fortunate.
If I created a shortcut in the Sap-pung Territory, I could meet the Black Lin Eagle Gate group on time and head to the Sato Territory.
Moreover, the Black Ghost Valley fleet was nearby, so I could receive help in emergencies.
*But what is it?*
I felt an inexplicable unease with the name Sap-pung Territory.
I did not know why.
***
Wooowoon—
In the darkness.
Inside Seo Eun-hyun’s east.
Surrounding Seo Eun-hyun, who was smiling kindly, rose a misty cloud of the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram.
Seo Eun-hyun, smiling softly.
No, Seo Hyul who occupied his body poked and prodded the misty cloud.
“Hehe, it’s a technique with a principle similar to mine.”
He stroked his chin with a troubled expression and gazed at the misty cloud.
“It’s dangerous. If you dig in carelessly you might be brainwashed in reverse by me. Haha… creating such a terrifying technique and not using it properly, getting hit by me. Unfair, Seo Doo. Well then…”
Kuguk—
Seo Hyul’s finger entered the misty cloud of the Ten Thousand Phenomena Affinity Diagram.
“I’ll look for the pillar of this technique. If it’s similar to mine, the hidden part should appear when I find the root pillar.”
He smiled slyly and spoke to Seo Eun-hyun, whose voice he could hear inside him.
“I’ll borrow the fleshly talent of the body you possess. If it’s your fleshly talent, finding the pillar of this technique should be a very easy task.”
The technique that uses the talent of flesh to inversely trace the root of a technique.
“Zhokhonsalgyeon technique.”
When viewed through Seo Hyul’s common sense.
A possessor of talent that exerts power at the Integration stage at Cheoninqi level should be able to find the pillar in one go.
“Using your own talent to expose your greatest secret… pitiful. Hehehe…”
Seo Hyul laughed.
And Seo Eun-hyun, absorbed in concentrating in his mindscape, was not listening particularly to his words.