The Truth of Spell Release
Hwa-seon opened his eyes to a splitting headache. The world spun around him, and something in his gut threatened to surge back up.
Just as he tried to grasp what had happened—
“Awake?”
“That voice!”
“For the record, shut up. You’re already out of Shaanxi, and Mount Hua has completely abandoned you.”
Hwa-seon’s mind snapped back into focus at Shin Gi-woon’s voice. The queasiness, however, remained unchanged.
He pieced together his last memories. Those damn Demonic Cult bitches had shattered his Blood Flower Under Heaven, and then he’d taken a spear shaft to the back of the head from Shin Gi-woon outside. After that he’d blacked out, and woken to this.
Which meant Heavenly Palace had gained nothing from this operation—they had played the worst possible hand.
He, the Fifth Apostle, kidnapped by the Demonic Cult. The plan to turn Mount Hua into a wasteland with the rear forces, gone up in smoke.
What came next was a problem, but that wasn’t what Hwa-seon needed to worry about right now. How to stay alive.
Would they let him live? That was the real question.
“I’ve got a lot of questions for you. Not sure you’ll answer them, though.”
“…You won’t get anything out of me. Of course, if you spare my life, that’s a different story.”
“So, trade information for your life? Is your life even worth that much?”
“If you don’t want your questions answered, fine. But that itching curiosity on your face says you want to keep me alive and get the info.”
Hwa-seon had stabbed sharply at Shin Gi-woon’s heart—or so he thought. Shin Gi-woon had led him to think exactly that. Smiling inwardly, he pulled a vial from his robes. A vial of Azure Clear Oil.
The moment Hwa-seon saw it, he recognized the Azure Clear Oil. Greed flashed across his eyes in an instant. All this humiliation had begun the moment he’d lost that oil.
If he just took the Azure Clear Oil, he could kill these bastards anytime he wanted.
“Shall we make a deal? I’ll spare you. I’ll even throw in the Azure Clear Oil.”
“Put a restriction on it. A restriction to make this deal legitimate.”
“No problem. I, Shin Gi-woon, will have my curiosity satisfied by Hwa-seon, and in return Hwa-seon is guaranteed his life and one drop of Azure Clear Oil.”
“One drop?”
“Shut up. Cross the line and I’ll just kill you.”
“Understood.”
Hwa-seon, who’d been testing the waters, nodded. He’d definitely crossed the line just now. Thanks to that, he realized the guy was serious about this restriction.
With the restriction established, the first thing Shin Gi-woon asked was—
“Spell Release. What the hell is it?”
“Figured you’d ask that first. Never seen it before, so you were flustered, right?”
“If you’re planning to beat around the bush, I won’t kill you—but I will torture you.”
“Spell Release is… a type of sorcery. One that uses natural qi, at that.”
“Details.”
Shin Gi-woon narrowed his eyes. He already knew Spell Release used natural qi, thanks to Ryu-jin.
That was how he’d so easily smashed the Spell Release of that darkness-shrouded bastard with the All-Power Realm.
What he wanted wasn’t the principle or identity of Spell Release.
“How did you create this? That’s what I’m asking.”
“How many spiritual beasts and divine beasts do you think exist in this vast world?”
“Riddles?”
“Countless. Even a tiger, if it lives more than ten years in the mountains, becomes a spiritual beast. Spiritual beasts hold inner cores… and those cores contain vast amounts of natural qi.”
Shin Gi-woon confirmed Hwa-seon’s answer by asking Ryu-jin. As a former spiritual beast herself, she could tell if this was a lie.
When she confirmed it was true, Shin Gi-woon nodded and demanded the rest of the explanation.
“Our Palace gathered every spiritual beast’s inner core we could get our hands on. Tigers, snakes, deer… first we slaughtered every long-lived animal and collected their cores.”
“…You lunatics.”
“Yes. We were a mad group. After gathering the cores like that, we combined them into one, and needed a space to contain the massively expanded natural qi.”
“Space?”
“A dragon’s yeouiju. But we couldn’t quietly go after a dragon’s yeouiju. So we decided. Not a dragon—we’d snatch the yeouiju from an imugi on the verge of ascension.”
Whaaaash!!
Shin Gi-woon’s upper dantian churned violently. Ryu-jin was pouring out fierce emotion the moment her own story came up.
[That son of a bitch…!]
‘Calm down. It’s not your turn yet.’
Shin Gi-woon closed his eyes tightly and soothed the rampaging Ryu-jin. In the process, he realized something.
It was a good thing Ryu-jin had stayed quiet until now. If she’d run wild on her own, the upper dantian could have been in serious danger.
That’s how intense it was. Anyway, with his eyes closed, Shin Gi-woon coaxed and soothed her. She still had a role to play.
Hwa-seon waited for the eyes-closed Shin Gi-woon. The man would need time to process the information his own way. No need to rush him.
Eventually Shin Gi-woon opened his eyes and gave a slight nod. Hwa-seon continued.
“In the end, the plan succeeded. After snatching the yeouiju from the imugi, the Palace analyzed its composition and mass-produced them.”
“Mass-produced?”
“Yes. Those mass-produced yeouiju could hold both natural qi and a martial artist’s inner energy.”
“Natural qi and inner energy… Don’t tell me?”
Shin Gi-woon vaguely grasped the principle of Spell Release, and seeing his reaction, Hwa-seon nodded and put the finishing touch on the explanation.
“Inside the yeouiju, the inner energy and natural qi fused into one, forming a new energy. Those who ingested the yeouiju into their bodies gained a ‘Spell.’ And using that Spell was named Spell Release.”
“Can anyone who takes a yeouiju use Spells?”
“No. Minimum requirement is Peak expert. At the Peak level, a Spell is nothing more than adding sword aura to a regular sword. The true value of Spells starts at the Transcendent Realm and Hwagyeong.”
“…”
“When a Transcendent expert releases a Spell, a domain is set based on the caster’s total inner energy. Within that domain, the caster can spam Spells without any limit on their inner energy.”
Shin Gi-woon let out a low hum. The Spell that darkness man had shown was absurd. Shin Gi-woon could break it easily, sure.
But other Extreme Demon experts would have had a hard time. Even if demonic qi was the opposing energy to natural qi—
if you couldn’t handle that demonic qi efficiently, breaking a Spell would be like plucking stars from the sky.
If Shin Gi-woon hadn’t been able to use the All-Power Realm, he’d have moved exactly as the bastard intended in that dark space until his inner energy ran dry.
An absurd ability. An ability that couldn’t possibly be without weaknesses. So Hwa-seon added more.
“There are weaknesses. First, when releasing a Spell, the caster can’t take any other actions. Even a sword master has to just sit back and watch with hands off.”
Shin Gi-woon recalled the fight with the man. Come to think of it, that man really hadn’t made any other moves.
Even when the Spell was broken by Thunder Heaven at the end, he’d just been shocked—never even gripped his sword as he met death.
Same with Hwa-seon. When his Spell crumbled under Bi So-hyang and Sama Yul, he hadn’t gripped his sword either. Maybe this was the biggest weakness.
“And the second weakness. Spells can be easily smashed from the outside. Of course it’s not impossible from the inside either, but I personally don’t recommend it.”
“I see.”
The “don’t recommend” didn’t register with Shin Gi-woon, who’d broken it from the inside. The All-Power Realm was a technique only he could use.
Still, weak to external intrusion—so a technique with clear pros and cons. Also, not one you’d casually pull against a superior opponent.
Since the caster becomes unable to act otherwise when releasing a Spell, they wouldn’t show it rashly.
Now he understood why Hwa-seon hadn’t released Spell even under the Plum Blossom Swordsmen’s pursuit.
If support came from outside, it would be over right there. He’d tried to hold out somehow until Heavenly Palace arrived.
This was enough information on Spell Release. Time to move on.
“That man. What’s his identity?”
“Fallen Heaven Martial General. One of the eleven Martial Generals in charge of combat under Heavenly Palace.”
“Martial Generals?”
“Under the Heavenly Palace Lord, there are twelve Apostles and eleven Martial Generals. Their martial power… well, you know best. Lee Hyeong-seop who was active in the Demonic Cult was the Ninth Apostle.”
Fallen Heaven Martial Generals and Heavenly Palace Apostles.
The identities in Heavenly Palace that demanded the most attention.
Shin Gi-woon already knew from fighting one Fallen Heaven Martial General. They were by no means weak.
“I think I’ve told you quite a lot now?”
“Heavenly Palace’s goal. Last question.”
“Cheon-ji-gae-byeok. The Opening of Heaven and Earth. I can’t reveal any more information because of the restriction. Isn’t this enough?”
“Yeah… I’ll spare you.”
Shin Gi-woon sighed and rose to his feet. Hwa-seon looked up at him with a triumphant expression. Just you wait.
Once I take the Azure Clear Oil, I’ll smash that damn head first. That thought lasted only a moment. Hwa-seon tilted his head at the unmoving Shin Gi-woon.
“What are you doing? If you’re refusing the restriction—”
Flash.
Then it happened.
Shin Gi-woon’s pupils slit long like a reptile’s, and his hand seized Hwa-seon’s throat.
“Ghk!”
Hwa-seon thrashed with bloodshot eyes. His gaze seemed to ask—
Isn’t this different from the promise? To that, Shin Gi-woon—no.
Ryu-jin, temporarily occupying his body, tore her lips into a grin and said,
“I’m not Shin Gi-woon.”
“Wh-what?!”
“You who coveted what humans must not covet.”
“W-wait—”
“Die.”
Crack.
Ryu-jin snapped Hwa-seon’s neck bone. His eyes twitched for an instant. Right there, neck broken, he met death.
Then Shin Gi-woon’s pupils returned to human ones.
“I said I’d spare you. Can’t help it if someone else kills you.”
That’s right.
He was a demonic man to the bone.