Chapter 29
Chapter 29
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Blood Diamond
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Bu Eun-seol stared blankly for a moment.
You can ask anyone for teachings, but you can't necessarily learn from them?
“The masters of this pavilion hone their own unique martial arts through real combat. Aside from the Beastly Blade, there are no secret manuals or established basic techniques.”
Dang Cheong said with a serious expression.
“But since you've been chosen as one of the Ten Demonic Masters, I shall grant you a special privilege this time.”
“Thank you.”
“What you need most right now is a superior internal energy technique.”
Bu Eun-seol nodded.
Having never learned martial arts from a young age, he lacked any foundation not only in combat skills but also in internal energy.
At that, Dang Cheong turned and pointed to a distant mountain peak.
“That place is called Cheol-jang Peak.”
“Cheol-jang Peak...”
“That's right. Rest today and climb Cheol-jang Peak tomorrow.”
Dang Cheong looked at Bu Eun-seol and said in a solemn voice.
“A master who will teach you the best internal energy technique is there.”
* * *
After resting at his quarters, Bu Eun-seol set out for Cheol-jang Peak early, as the morning sun rose.
Bu Eun-seol had been proud of the steel-like stamina he'd gained from his continuous martial arts training, but the terrain of Cheol-jang Peak was indescribably rugged.
“Hoo. Hoo.”
After climbing for over four hours, he was gasping for breath.
But Bu Eun-seol never once stopped, climbing the mountain without rest.
*Thud.*
When he finally reached the summit of Cheol-jang Peak, Bu Eun-seol's eyes widened.
At the edge of the peak stood a small thatched hut, and in front of it, a large man in worn monastic robes stood with his hands clasped behind his back.
“Excuse me.”
Bu Eun-seol approached the man in the monastic robes and bowed deeply.
“I came at the behest of Vice Pavilion Master Dang...”
“So you're the one chosen as one of Nang-ya-gak's Ten Demonic Masters.”
With a low voice, the man standing at the edge of the peak turned around.
In that instant, Bu Eun-seol's eyebrow twitched slightly. The man's face, neck, arms... every visible inch of skin not covered by his clothes was densely packed with scars.
At a glance, he looked less like a human and more like a monster covered in wounds.
“Hmm.”
The man in the monastic robes looked at Bu Eun-seol, his expression one of slight surprise.
Until now, whenever anyone—man or woman, young or old—saw his appearance, he would see great agitation in their eyes.
But for a boy not yet of age to merely twitch an eyebrow upon seeing him...
“You don't seem very surprised.”
“Should I be?”
The man's eyes flashed as he gazed into Bu Eun-seol's calm eyes.
“You must have seen many things you shouldn't have at your age.”
He could tell at a glance that Bu Eun-seol had endured harsh trials since childhood.
“The work of a mortician involves seeing things one shouldn't.”
“You were a mortician?”
“Yes.”
Hearing Bu Eun-seol's reply, the man in the monastic robes asked quietly.
“Your name.”
“It's Bu Eun-seol.”
“Bu Eun-seol.”
The man repeated Bu Eun-seol's name softly before speaking again.
“Are you here to learn an internal energy technique?”
“Yes.”
“It's not unusual, but...”
The man muttered in a bitter voice, his gaze shifting to the distant sky.
“I don't know why the people of Nang-ya-gak are all so greedy.”
“What do you mean?”
“It seems you've already mastered a technique. Why would you insist on learning another internal energy technique from this humble monk?”
*A humble monk?*
*Binseung* was a term a monk used to refer to himself humbly.
Did that mean this man in monastic robes was truly a monk?
“I have never learned an internal energy technique.”
At Bu Eun-seol's answer, the man's expression turned scornful.
“Nonsense.”
Then he pressed his finger firmly against the area of Bu Eun-seol's lower dantian.
A repulsive force rose from the dantian area and smoothly pushed the man's hand away.
“This level of cultivation suggests you've systematically nurtured your internal energy since childhood. And you say you've never learned an internal energy technique?”
“Why would I lie?”
Even under the man's fierce gaze, Bu Eun-seol's eyes showed no change.
“Then it must be one of two things.”
The man said coldly, as if spitting out the words, after scanning Bu Eun-seol's eyes.
“Either you are the world's greatest liar, or you learned an internal energy technique in your dreams.”
Bu Eun-seol said nothing.
That was the strongest protest he could offer.
“Hmm.”
Unable to detect even a flicker of wavering in Bu Eun-seol's eyes, a sharp gleam flashed in the man's own.
“This humble monk is called Hyeol-geum-gang.”
Hyeol-geum-gang.
He was a master from the Cheon-ryong Temple, known as the sacred ground of Yunnan, but he was falsely accused of breaking the precept against killing, had his internal energy crippled, and was excommunicated.
A few years later, however, by some unknown means, he had fully recovered his internal energy and reappeared in the martial world.
Hyeol-geum-gang had dealt with the fellow disciples who had framed him and slaughtered all who came seeking revenge.
Afterward, various orthodox sects tried to kill him, but countless were killed by him instead, as he had mastered all the secret arts of Cheon-ryong Temple.
*Why would the Buddhist name of an ordained monk contain the ominous word for 'blood'?*
Hyeol-geum-gang was a demonic monk who had disposed of numerous orthodox heroes, but Bu Eun-seol simply thought of him as a monk with a peculiar name.
“It seems you don't know of this humble monk.”
Hyeol-geum-gang, who had been staring at Bu Eun-seol, smiled, baring his canine teeth.
“The name Hyeol-geum-gang was given to this humble monk because I kill anyone who displeases me on the spot. Understand?”
“I understand.”
He answered, but his eyes were filled with disbelief.
Hyeol-geum-gang's eyes were as clear as the autumn sky reflected in a well. He didn't look like a man tainted by evil or capable of murder.
*Thwack.*
Just then, with a lightning-fast movement, Hyeol-geum-gang seized Bu Eun-seol's wrist pulse.
“Since you claim to have never learned an internal energy technique, it should be fine if I destroy all of your internal energy, right?”
*Was I mistaken?*
Hyeol-geum-gang seemed to have not the slightest hesitation about killing Bu Eun-seol, one of Nang-ya-gak's Ten Demonic Masters.
“Of course.”
As Bu Eun-seol nodded, Hyeol-geum-gang, still holding his wrist, suddenly felt something strange.
He discovered that while the body was full of true energy, there was no circulation of that energy within him at all.
*Could it be... this boy...*
Hyeol-geum-gang released Bu Eun-seol's wrist and took a deep breath.
“Have you ever learned,”
“Learned what?”
“A secret to calming your mind, or a method of breathing in and out.”
“My grandfather taught me.”
“Do it.”
Hyeol-geum-gang said with a solemn gaze.
“Do it right now, in front of my eyes.”
“Understood.”
Bu Eun-seol took a deep breath and focused his mind.
Then, standing stock-still, he began the breathing method his grandfather had taught him.
“You're circulating energy while standing?”
“Is there a connection between breathing and standing?”
Hyeol-geum-gang looked dumbfounded.
Even for a simple energy circulation method, sitting in the lotus position was the standard.
*If he can circulate energy while standing... doesn't that mean he can do it in any posture?*
“Hooo.”
Just then, Bu Eun-seol focused his mind and began to breathe.
His breathing, which started out ordinary, grew progressively calmer and longer.
Soon, the time it took for Bu Eun-seol to complete one cycle of inhalation and exhalation lasted for more than a quarter of an hour.
*This is...*
Hyeol-geum-gang's eyes flew wide open.
*A single breath cycle lasts a quarter of an hour?*
Wasn't the breathing method Bu Eun-seol was using similar to the energy circulation of the Muscle/Tendon Change and Marrow Cleansing Sutra, which only the abbot of Shaolin could master?
“Is something wrong?”
Now, Bu Eun-seol was even blinking his eyes and speaking.
*It is the Muscle/Tendon Change Sutra.*
Among all the internal energy techniques scattered throughout the martial world, only the Muscle/Tendon Change Sutra allowed one to open their eyes and mouth while circulating energy.
Swallowing his complicated feelings, Hyeol-geum-gang reached out with two fingers and once again took Bu Eun-seol's wrist pulse.
“Don't mind me. Continue.”
“Yes.”
Bu Eun-seol focused his mind again and continued the breathing method.
*This is...*
After standing there for a while, grasping the flow of Bu Eun-seol's energy circulation, Hyeol-geum-gang's eyes trembled slightly.
*Did he only teach him how to blindly accumulate true energy?*
What Bu Eun-seol was doing wasn't energy circulation for freely using true energy, but a secret nurturing method for blindly accumulating it in his lower dantian.
*How absurd.*
Hyeol-geum-gang let out a low groan and shook his head.
*Could it be that he only taught the nurturing method because teaching the entire Muscle/Tendon Change Sutra would reveal the technique's origins?*
For such a thing to be possible, there was only one scenario.
A Shaolin master intentionally separated and taught only the nurturing part of the Muscle/Tendon Change Sutra to Bu Eun-seol.
There was no other way to explain it.
“Stop.”
At Hyeol-geum-gang's shout, Bu Eun-seol stopped the breathing method.
Seeing Bu Eun-seol's worried expression, Hyeol-geum-gang let out a dry laugh.
“You said your grandfather taught you this breathing method?”
“Yes.”
“What you learned wasn't a breathing method, but a way to build up immense internal energy.”
Bu Eun-seol couldn't hide his surprise at Hyeol-geum-gang's words.
“Are you saying... what I learned was an internal energy technique?”
“An internal energy technique and a breathing method are different. What you learned is a method to accumulate true energy in your dantian.”
Hyeol-geum-gang's expression grew stern and solemn.
“An internal energy technique is a secret art that not only nurtures the true energy within the body but also allows you to use it freely.”
Bu Eun-seol's expression became strange.
*Sometimes, when I tensed my lower abdomen, I felt a great strength... so that was internal energy.*
According to Hyeol-geum-gang, Bu Eun-seol had only learned how to hoard internal energy like a miser, not how to use it.
While Bu Eun-seol was lost in thought, Hyeol-geum-gang's explanation continued.
“Right now, your dantian holds an amount of internal energy that would take a martial artist more than a decade of hard training to accumulate.”
“More than a decade...”
“Moreover, it's in a state of pure true energy. If your latent acupoints were to be activated, your power would increase in an instant.”
Only then did a question that had long bothered Bu Eun-seol finally get answered.
The reason he had superior stamina and could run faster than ordinary people.
The reason he could powerfully execute the basic sword techniques of the Hwau Sword Sect. It was all because he had some degree of internal energy in his dantian.
“Can you accumulate internal energy just through a breathing method?”
“It's not just any breathing method.”
Hyeol-geum-gang's eyes flashed as he looked down at Bu Eun-seol.
“The energy circulation and breathing method you learned originates from one of the highest-level internal energy techniques in the martial world. Otherwise, you couldn't have built up such powerful internal energy in such a short time.”
Hyeol-geum-gang, staring at Bu Eun-seol, asked again.
“What was the name of your late grandfather?”
After a moment of hesitation, Bu Eun-seol said quietly.
“His surname was Bu, and his given name was Jan-yang.”
“Bu Jan-yang.”
As he repeated the name under his breath, Hyeol-geum-gang's eyes darkened like a fading sunset.
“As far as this humble monk knows, there was only one person in the martial world who used the name Bu Jan-yang.”
“Who was that?”
From Hyeol-geum-gang's dimming eyes, an unfathomably deep divine light burst forth.
“The former Vice Lord of the Demonic Sanctum, known as the number one saber master of the demonic path. The Seven-Branched Demonic Saber, Bu Jan-yang.”