Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Heavenly Man's Counsel
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“What’s this? Why’d you suddenly close the door?”
Wi Seong-cheon asked, eyes narrowing. It wasn’t just closing the door. Qi spreading from Mu Yeon-jun enveloped the room.
It wasn’t qi threatening Wi Seong-cheon, but its density severed the room from the outside.
……Absurd internal energy. He’d felt it during their qi clash at the restaurant a few months ago, but the man’s internal energy was abnormally profound. Hwangbo Seong-u’s had been impressive, and Jin Bae’s just now had been too. The Nine Great Righteous Sects and Three Great Clans. It made sense they’d have profound energy from consuming elixirs since childhood.
But Mu Yeon-jun’s overshadowed them. Because he was a Heavenly Man? Well, a Heavenly Man was the arch-nemesis of the Heavenly Demon—no, the Demon King. Raised as a disciple of the Ten Heroes of the Orthodox Faction, he must have received more support than disciples of the Nine Great Righteous Sects or heirs of the Three Great Clans.
Even so.
No matter how lavishly he’d been given elixirs, was it possible to wield internal energy this vast?
“I didn’t want to deal with distractions.”
Mu Yeon-jun muttered. He slowly entered the room and sat in an empty chair.
“Think of it as consideration for you.”
“……What?”
“You came into the waiting room to recover, right?”
Tilt.
Mu Yeon-jun cocked his head as he asked. It hit the mark. Before descending the arena, his eyes had met Dang Heeran’s. Her expression had held unmistakable worry.
He’d noticed.
“……That obvious?”
“Not really.”
Mu Yeon-jun shook his head.
“But if you know to look, it shows. First time?”
“No.”
Wi Seong-cheon gave a wry smile and pointed to his eyes.
“But this... you can’t hide it even if you try.”
As Mu Yeon-jun said, it wasn’t that obvious. But if you looked deliberately, you saw it. A cloudy turbidity lingered in Wi Seong-cheon’s eyes.
No helping it. Circulating qi could expel it, but without that, the turbidity in his eyes reflected outward.
“Sit guard.”
Mu Yeon-jun said, crossing his arms.
“Circulate your qi. Holding onto turbidity that’s not even yours does you no good.”
“......You won’t do that either?”
“I’ve shown enough already.”
Fair enough. Wi Seong-cheon smiled wryly. He didn’t really need a guard. It wouldn’t take long. But if offered, no reason to refuse. Wi Seong-cheon sat cross-legged and immediately began circulating his qi.
‘......Fast.’
Mu Yeon-jun narrowed his eyes, staring at Wi Seong-cheon. The flow of qi moving inside Wi Seong-cheon’s body. Mu Yeon-jun’s eyes saw it. Heavenly Eye. The ability of the Heavenly Man’s ‘blood’.
‘The flow’s unusual too. Meridians...... different from others. Born that way? No, no. He developed them.’
Absurd. Like bones, meridians varied slightly from person to person, but Wi Seong-cheon’s were too different to call ‘slight’.
It meant he’d developed them artificially. And astonishingly, they weren’t completely different. ‘Normally’, they were like anyone else’s. They’d been that way fighting Jin Bae earlier.
But at some point, Wi Seong-cheon’s meridians had ‘changed.’ And they remained altered now.
‘Indeed. So I didn’t notice last time.’
At the restaurant, the first time he’d gripped his hand. Mu Yeon-jun had sent qi into Wi Seong-cheon. He hadn’t noticed then. Wi Seong-cheon had drawn internal energy but hadn’t used reversion.
‘Impressive.’
Muscles could be built or shrunk. Flesh, even more so. Bones too, possibly. But meridians? The paths through which blood and qi flowed, developed to that extent?
“Hoo.”
Wi Seong-cheon exhaled deeply. The turbidity mixed in his breath scattered into the air. It had taken about fifteen minutes. He opened his closed eyes and looked at Mu Yeon-jun.
“Thanks.”
“Your martial arts are dangerous.”
Wi Seong-cheon expressed thanks, but
Mu Yeon-jun said something out of left field. Wi Seong-cheon’s eyes widened round at the sudden remark. But Mu Yeon-jun ignored his surprise.
“Don’t use them.”
“What bullshit is that?”
“You know it too. Or before that, let me ask something else.”
“Some nerve. You guard me once and think I have to answer everything?”
“Do you see it, or feel it.”
Mu Yeon-jun ignored Wi Seong-cheon’s words again. Wi Seong-cheon’s eyebrow twitched at his attitude.
What kind of communication skills were these? Wi Seong-cheon had spent most of his time at the Heavenly Harmony Sect, but even he wasn’t this bad at talking. Knowing his audience was limited, he’d always practiced ‘speaking’.
He’d always talk to hunters or woodcutters he met in the mountains. Sometimes to passing merchant caravans or escort processions. He never revealed he was from the Heavenly Harmony Sect.
Partly because announcing himself as the Heavenly Harmony Sect’s young leader brought cold reactions he found annoying, but mostly because he didn’t want to reveal who the young leader was.
“Do you see it, or feel it.”
“Did you learn to talk, or not? Or are you just incapable?”
Wi Seong-cheon sniped back. Mu Yeon-jun blinked. Then, he smirked.
“I don’t, usually. No need. Is there?”
“There is, you bastard.”
He spat it out in anger, then regretted it.
“You’re not getting offended over ‘bastard’, are you?”
“Your attacks.”
Ignored again.
“You targeted only the places where the qi flow was thinnest, methodically.”
Unlike his blunt questions earlier, this came with more detail. Wi Seong-cheon glared at Mu Yeon-jun.
“Uncannily so. Didn’t seem like you ‘saw’ it. Probably felt it.”
“Think what you want.”
“I get wanting to hide it, but it’s pointless. I see it. Your body’s clear to me. Your meridians are odd. Twisted-looking in places...... like forcibly patched together. A normal person born with those would’ve died in the womb.”
Wi Seong-cheon ground his lower lip.
Something he hadn’t wanted exposed was out.
“That’s how I knew. Against Jin Bae, you didn’t target thin qi flows from the ‘start’. You fought like you were gauging him. Then at some point, you hit them precisely.”
Just as Mu Yeon-jun said.
Couldn’t target them from the beginning. Excluding vital points, qi flows were thinner there, but not enough to shatter outright at first. So gauging was needed.
That was why Wi Seong-cheon—no, the Heavenly Harmony Sect’s martial arts used no weapons. Bare-handed, they ‘touch’ directly to gauge how the enemy’s qi flows and where it concentrates.
That was the Heavenly Harmony Sect’s Qi Explosion Point.
“That much is fine. But your method of targeting is ‘dangerous.’ You deliberately touched Jin Bae’s aura. Each time, his aura weakened slightly, and his overall qi flow thinned.”
Making it easier to shatter.
Thus creating openings to ‘shatter’ with dark scriptures.
“Your arts. A variant of the Blood Absorption Great Law?”
“......What, gonna call it an evil art?”
“If I must, the Blood Absorption Great Law is an evil art. But not demonic. So no issue.”
Mu Yeon-jun replied indifferently.
“Excellent martial arts. High risk, but you gauged qi flows without my kind of ‘eyes’. And like the Blood Absorption Great Law, you absorbed the opponent’s qi into your body and turned it against them. Worthy of being called a divine art.”
Mu Yeon-jun evaluated him in a flat voice. A divine art. He’d have been pleased to hear it first, but fortunately, he’d heard it from the Tai Chi Sword Lord days ago and kept his composure.
“But it’s not a divine art.”
Worthy, perhaps.
“Your arts are too dangerous. Reversing the opponent’s aura is brilliant, but the burden accumulates, eating away at you. See? Just fighting Jin Bae left turbidity in your body.”
“I expelled it.”
“Against Jin Bae’s level, sure. But what about stronger foes? If your body fills with turbidity before you expel it? You think it ends with coughing up some dead blood? No, it won’t. You’d die on the spot, or if lucky, qi deviation. That kills too, but even luckier, you might survive crippled.”
Didn’t know he could talk this much. Wi Seong-cheon listened silently to Mu Yeon-jun. Indeed. He’d said he didn’t usually, and that was true.
No need, so he didn’t. Then talking now meant he needed to. For what?
“Your internal energy isn’t lacking. You could probably manifest aura yourself. But against Jin Bae, you minimized aura formation, fighting without manifesting yours like his. Can’t use aura techniques? Or chose not to. One fight was enough to gauge. Plus your bizarre meridians. Heavenly Harmony Sect arts focus on body techniques over qi arts.”
Heavenly Man.
Human descended from heaven. A thousand years ago, he perished with the Demon King, saving the world. Later Heavenly Men didn’t match the first’s fame and remained the Heavenly Demon’s rivals. But that didn’t deny their genius.
Mu Yeon-jun was undoubtedly a genius. Possessing impossible eyes that saw qi flows, he’d grasped the essence of Heavenly Harmony Sect arts from one look.
“Qi inside awakens the body, steals the opponent’s. Bizarre arts. Like designed solely for battling overwhelming foes.”
“What’re you getting at.”
“I said it already. Your arts are dangerous. So don’t use them.”
Wi Seong-cheon smirked.
No one knew better than him how dangerous these arts were. To sense Qi Explosion Points, he had to keep closing in.
The pain awareness he’d trained since age eight was also to hone sensing them.
To clearly recognize and ‘distinguish’ pain, sharpening all senses to a blade’s edge.
Reversion was the same. As Mu Yeon-jun said, a variant of the Blood Absorption Great Law. Steal the opponent’s qi, cycle it through his body, return it as an attack.
Taking another’s internal energy without refining it. Without reversion-developed meridians, he’d have suffered qi deviation long ago.
He knew all this.
His father had taught him. Don’t use reversion unless absolutely necessary. No, think hard before even using Spirit Ignition.
He knew and used it anyway. Because he could handle it.
“What, then? Tell me not to use them, so what should I do?”
Wi Seong-cheon chuckled as he asked.
“And you. Why the hell are you lecturing me like this? Since when are we buddies? Not just now, either. You...... yesterday. Why’d you give me that advice?”
Jin Bae used a staff.
“I know you’re not the type to advise just anyone. And we’re not close enough for personal counsel. What’re you playing at?”
“I heard you were the first to ‘detect’ the Demonic Cult spy.”
Mu Yeon-jun said without changing expression.
“And I learned the Tai Chi Sword Lord takes enough interest to teach you personally.”
“So?”
“Advising you was my way of showing goodwill.”
Mu Yeon-jun continued.
Unexpected words. Goodwill? Hearing it outright, Wi Seong-cheon gaped blankly, unable to reply. But Mu Yeon-jun didn’t mind.
“I thought your arts, or constitution, suited demon extermination like mine. Truthfully, I’m not fully convinced yet. But...... if you’re not a well-crafted Demonic Cult spy, it’s certain you have the rare ability to detect demonic qi. So I feel goodwill.”
“......So?”
“If needed, I’ll arrange for you to learn new arts.”
Mu Yeon-jun said without hesitation.
“I’d even teach you the Ten Heroes’ arts I know. Though I’d need my masters’ permission first. But if you wish, I can get the Tai Chi Sword Lord’s approval right away.”
“......”
“But the Ten Heroes’ arts are tricky and hard to learn. Slightly inferior, but I can arrange Nine Great Righteous Sects arts. So discard your precious ‘ability’-ruining arts and learn new ones.”
“......Are you sane?”
“Do I look like someone who jokes?”
He’d never considered it.
“Detecting demonic qi isn’t simple.”
“Didn’t Buddhism or Taoism have arts for that?”
“They’re inefficient. Not very effective. Obvious vicious demonic qi anyone can sense, but you detected a hidden spy’s. I see it as your constitution, not an art.”
That’s why he said this.
Innate sensitivity to demonic qi, the constitution to detect it, was exceedingly rare.
And Wi Seong-cheon vaguely sensed it himself.
The Tai Chi Sword Lord called Heavenly Harmony Sect arts demon-exterminating, but before that. The ‘disgust’ toward demonic qi was, no matter how he thought, constitutional, not from arts.
Wi Seong-cheon slowly stood. Mu Yeon-jun silently watched him rise.
“Want a comrade or something?”
“Need one.”
“Why? Think you can’t take on the Demonic Cult alone?”
“Power’s always lacking. That’s why I need it.”
“Don’t you have comrades around you? Propose to them.”
“They’re different from me.”
“I’m different from you too.”
“You feel demonic qi like me.”
Wi Seong-cheon laughed.
“Thanks for saying that, but no.”
“Why?”
“I’m the Heavenly Harmony Sect’s young leader.”
Wi Seong-cheon said as he passed Mu Yeon-jun.
“A young leader who must inherit the sect learning other arts instead of our own? And what? Don’t use my arts? Ridiculous.”
“I said they’re dangerous.”
“I know.”
Wi Seong-cheon placed his hand on the door.
“I know and use them anyway.”
“You’ll ruin yourself.”
“I know my limits.”
Besides, this danger could be overcome. Since he hadn’t mastered Heavenly Harmony Sect arts to the extreme.
“Your sect’s arts that precious?”
Mu Yeon-jun asked Wi Seong-cheon’s back.
Wi Seong-cheon shrugged and pushed the door open.
“Of course.”
The arts of the sect where he was born and raised.