Chapter 166
Chapter 166
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 166
Chapter Title: Twin Stones
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The Supreme Blood Leopard that Wi Seong-cheon needed was with the Green Forest Demon Emperor. That was the worst-case scenario. But rationally speaking, it didn't seem likely.
The Supreme Blood Leopard was a precious spiritual medicine, but among the treasures hidden in this forest, there were plenty that were equal to or better than it.
‘The most valuable spiritual medicine is the Immortal Refinement White Jade Pill.’
If the Shaolin Temple's Great Reversion Pill was considered the foremost spiritual medicine of Buddhism, the Immortal Refinement White Jade Pill was the Daoist world's top elixir, said to have been crafted by immortals themselves.
In terms of pure value, most people rated the Immortal Refinement White Jade Pill higher than the Great Reversion Pill. While the Great Reversion Pill's refining method had been passed down in the Shaolin Temple, the Immortal Refinement White Jade Pill's method had been lost when the Complete Truth Sect was wiped out long ago.
As a result, most of the Immortal Refinement White Jade Pills circulating in the world today were crude fakes that had merely stolen the name. However, there was no way the one the Black Demonic King had put out as a treasure was fake.
‘The Immortal Refinement White Jade Pill is probably what Heeran or Senior Dang Seona will go after.’
The Tang Clan was expert not only in poisons but also in pharmacology. If they got their hands on a real Immortal Refinement White Jade Pill, they might even be able to restore the lost refining method.
‘Things like the Supreme Blood Leopard, Millennium Snow Ginseng, or Azure Spirit Oil might exist somewhere else in the world. But the Immortal Refinement White Jade Pill—if I don't grab it today, the chance is gone.’
Raw materials that hadn't been processed into elixirs might turn up somewhere in this vast world.
Legends and rumors occasionally surfaced about them. Somewhere out there was a divine land where Azure Spirit Oil flowed like streams, and Millennium Snow Ginseng, Doll Flower, and other such herbs grew in abundance.
The same went for lost martial arts.
The Wudang Sect's Tenfold Gold, the Huashan Sect's Endless Lotus Sword, the Zhongnan Sect's Hundred Dance Cloud Sword.
And various other lost techniques.
There might be copies in the Black Death Alliance's treasure vault, but these lost martial arts were ones he wouldn't have another chance to acquire if not today.
So, rationally speaking, it was hard to imagine the Green Forest Demon Emperor guarding the Supreme Blood Leopard. There were too many treasures of greater value.
Wi Seong-cheon settled his mind with that thought. In fact, it was fortunate there were treasure guardians at all.
He didn't know how strong the Mountain King Stronghold bandits were, but the Green Forest Demon Emperor's personal guards wouldn't be pushovers even for the Black Tyrants.
It was only natural that a clash of that magnitude would erupt to break through guardians of such caliber.
‘And where there's a treasure guardian, there must be treasure.’
He didn't know what it was, but it saved him the trouble of blindly scouring the forest. Wi Seong-cheon expanded his senses to their maximum range.
Ignoring the Green Forest Demon Emperor, who was blatantly asserting his presence, he mapped out the positions of the Mountain King Stronghold bandits scattered throughout the forest.
Like their leader, they weren't hiding their presences either.
But the presences approaching them were stealthy. The Black Tyrants and Heavenly Origin Academy students. They understood the nature of this treasure hunt and were moving with ambushes in mind to conserve energy unnecessarily.
It was impossible to precisely detect presences stealthily killing from distances invisible to the eye. Still, he could get a rough sense.
‘……Behind…….’
Wi Seong-cheon chose the west gate. He picked it partly because it was closest to the Blood Palace, but also because while lingering nearby, he'd confirmed no other Black Tyrants had chosen it.
Yet now, someone was passing the west gate and approaching this way. He could clearly sense the presence, but it felt oddly eerie.
He wasn't startled. Wi Seong-cheon knew whose presence it was. He'd felt it just a few days ago.
“You here for this side too?”
Wi Seong-cheon turned his head, naturally raising his guard.
The Crimson Bandage Monk. Even on the uneven forest path, his body barely bobbed.
The hulking frame wrapped tightly in bright red bandages made not a single sound, mismatched to his size. Wi Seong-cheon met the fierce gaze peeking from between the bandages and tilted his head slightly.
“No need to fight, right?”
The Crimson Bandage Monk didn't reply. It was the same attitude as when they'd come to the center together. Hadn't Baek Ri-hyang said it? No saint in the city had ever heard the Crimson Bandage Monk speak.
“You some kind of monk disciple or something? Doing a vow of silence?”
Wi Seong-cheon found the Crimson Bandage Monk unsettling. With his entire body swathed in bandages, it was impossible to read his expressions. And he didn't make a sound.
They said eyes were the windows to the soul. If you looked closely, you could read various emotions.
But the Crimson Bandage Monk's eyes revealed no emotions at all. The unfamiliarity made him uncomfortable.
“If you're not fighting, let's each go our way.”
He sensed no killing intent or hostility from the Crimson Bandage Monk. Wi Seong-cheon saw no need to confront him further. Keeping his guard up, he slowly backed away before turning around.
The footsteps didn't approach further. Wi Seong-cheon left, but the Crimson Bandage Monk didn't move. He just stood silently, watching Wi Seong-cheon depart.
‘What the hell is this guy?’
The lingering gaze was irritating. Wi Seong-cheon quickened his pace to shake it off. There was no need to clash with another ‘rival’ right away. His priority was understanding the ‘format’ of this treasure hunt.
“Luck’s good or bad, huh…….”
The nearest treasure guardian sat in the shade of a thick tree. It was a face he'd seen a few times on the ship to the Black Forest, but he didn't know the name.
“One guy's lucky, and it's a Hidden Dragon—that's lucky too…… But one guy's unlucky, and a Hidden Dragon's unlucky.”
“Sun's high in the sky, and you're still sleep-talking.”
“No, not sleep-talking. It's good you're alone and strong. But if that lone kid beats me, then my luck's rotten.”
The man stood, his face scrunched.
“I'm Wang Three of the Mountain King Stronghold.”
“Nickname?”
“Lowly Green Forest bandits don't need nicknames. I'm just the third son of the Wang family, so Wang Three.”
“The Green Forest Demon Emperor has a nickname.”
“A boss like that deserves one. He's no lowly bandit to be dismissed.”
Crack, crackle.
Wang Three twisted his neck side to side. Just that made his presence grow in Wi Seong-cheon's eyes. He wasn't some lowly bandit either.
That level of skill would toy with most second-rate experts like novices and earn recognition as a master even in the wider martial world.
‘Not impossible.’
If the Black Demonic King's guards were ghostly yakshas, the Mountain King Stronghold were the Green Forest Demon Emperor's personal guards.
“What are you guarding, mister?”
Wang Three blinked at the abrupt question.
“……What?”
“No nickname. Can't call a Green Forest bandit a great hero. You look way older than me, so mister it is.”
“Cheeky kid. Not wrong, though.”
Wang Three grinned, his scar-ridden cheek twitching.
“Kid. Why do you think I'm out here in this sweltering heat under the blazing sun?”
“To guard treasure?”
“Exactly.”
“Not asking you to move. Telling me what you're guarding wouldn't hurt.”
“No can do. If you wanna know…….”
Before Wang Three finished.
His eyes narrowed in a sly smile. Wi Seong-cheon seized that moment of narrowed vision. He closed the distance in an instant, his hand aiming for Wang Three's jaw.
A clean hit would knock him out in one blow. No hassle, no great strength needed.
If it landed.
Scree!
The thrust fist barely missed. Wi Seong-cheon redistributed the force in his launched body and shifted his weight back.
At the same time, he twisted his waist and torso. The flung arm folded, and his sharply raised elbow targeted Wang Three's jaw again.
Thwack!
A dull sound rang out. Wi Seong-cheon didn't hit the jaw as aimed. Wang Three's quick jab blocked the elbow.
Wang Three leaned back entirely to disperse the force, then kicked up dirt with his toes. Thick dust swallowed Wi Seong-cheon and Wang Three.
“A righteous sect guy ambushing?”
“Could happen.”
They traded barbs before the dust settled. But Wang Three couldn't laugh anymore. Wi Seong-cheon's attack in that brief moment was sharper than expected.
Not some flashy qi burst. Pure body techniques using only the flesh. Yet the speed, power, and linkage were astonishing enough to draw awe.
‘The Hidden Dragon lives up to the name.’
Even without qi arts, that thought arose.
Boom!
Wi Seong-cheon's thrust fist burst the dust cloud. Wang Three chose advance over retreat.
Clack-clack-clack!
Their hands crossed in repeated advances and retreats. Wang Three's expression changed again. The Hidden Dragon's specialty was body techniques. And what to watch in those was not strikes.
He'd heard the rumors, but experiencing it firsthand let him feel why they circulated.
Deflect the strike, cross paths, then retreat instead of advancing further. The way fists clenched, joints twisted. Moments of tensing and relaxing muscles. Strikes changed form due to all these factors.
The Hidden Dragon tried to ‘grab’ every one of them. In a flurry too fast to track with eyes, he spotted ‘graspable’ moments and dove in?
Absurd dynamic vision. Resolve that missed no opportunity. Neither befitted a second-rate barely past his twenties.
‘I see.’
It felt like blazing flames clung to both arms. Amid the exchange, Wi Seong-cheon's hands gripped Wang Three's forearms several times. He shook free before full locks, but contact fatigue built up in the arms.
‘This guy's too accustomed to close quarters. And…… he knows how to toy with strikes.’
Insights from the training cave and sea. Pinnacle of Heavy Light Subtle Position. Prenatal qi bolstered by the Dragon Jade. All elevated Wi Seong-cheon higher.
He intervened mid-deflection of strikes. Wi Seong-cheon's hands toyed with Wang Three's blows, forcing extreme slack.
At first, bit by bit. So subtly he wouldn't notice. Dodged, grazed. Then beyond that,
‘Can't hit him.’
It didn't take long to reach that realization. His extended fist met an incoming palm midway.
The hand lightly touching the forearm didn't resist the force, merely redirecting it. Thus, Wang Three's attack never reached Wi Seong-cheon.
‘Can't kill.’
The same applied to Mountain King Stronghold bandits. Even if allowed, could he? Wang Three coldly assessed the situation, belying his fierce looks.
Wang Three wasn't at full power, but neither was Wi Seong-cheon. That kid was probably hiding more.
“Twin Stones.”
Wang Three spoke abruptly the moment Wi Seong-cheon firmly gripped his right arm.
A slight twist would snap the joint. But Wi Seong-cheon stopped short.
“Twin Stones? What's that?”
No such thing on the list of hidden treasures.
“Of the Twin Stones—Blue and Red—I've got the Blue Stone.”
Wang Three glared sullenly at his still-held right arm. When Wi Seong-cheon showed no sign of releasing, he rummaged in his bosom with his other hand.
“It's not just about finding hidden treasures. Twin Stones…… need both Blue and Red paired to use.”
“How do you use them?”
“The more Twin Stones you collect, the better.”
What Wang Three pulled out was a small, blue-painted stone. No need for close inspection. It was half of something originally whole.
“Every Twin Stone has a resonating pair. Could be with another Green Forest bandit sweating under the sun like me, or hidden somewhere in the forest.”
Wi Seong-cheon eyed the Blue Stone with narrowed eyes. Meaning, not just any Red Stone would do. Without its original match forming a pair, Twin Stones were worthless.
“……The more the better, meaning?”
“All the treasures you want are piled up intact in the forest center. Our boss is guarding that place.”
“Damn it.”
Wi Seong-cheon spat out his rotten mood without hiding.
“Three days.”
Wang Three looked refreshed instead.
“Three days from now. Use Twin Stones for an ‘auction.’ Want something special? Bid more stones than the others to win it. Pretty fair, right? No relying on luck.”
No need to wander blindly for unknown treasures. Gather Twin Stones diligently, then bid on the third day. Depending on how many you collected and won with, you'd get more or fewer treasures.
In truth, the easiest way to gather Twin Stones was this.
Steal them from other saints.
Saved the hassle of hunting unknown halves, reduced competitors too. For Wi Seong-cheon, securing the Jade Kirin's stones guaranteed the Supreme Blood Leopard.
‘Sneaky old bastard.’
Wi Seong-cheon bit his lip, picturing the Black Demonic King grinning while biting into an apple.