Chapter 434
Chapter 434
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 434
Chapter Title: Legacy of the Fiery River Sage
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Martial artists learn a variety of techniques, but when it comes to internal energy arts and cultivation methods, they choose only one to master.
This is because the path to the stage of Grand Perfection is an incredibly long one.
Of course, depending on an individual's talent, as well as the type and school of the art, it is possible to learn several.
However, they cannot be used simultaneously.
This is because they are all secret methods for controlling the human body and mind.
The same was true for Bu Eun-seol.
But in the throes of extreme agony, to block the cascading Extreme Polarity Fiery Wheel,
he had unconsciously devised a method to split the Yin-Yang energy of his Reverse Extremes Divine Art, then rapidly alternate between two different cultivation methods.
It lasted for only a moment, but as two martial arts of completely different natures manifested from each of his hands in turn,
he was able to block the vibrations of the Extreme Polarity Fiery Wheel.
‘I see.’
A realization flashed through Bu Eun-seol’s mind.
‘The arts of both the Orthodox and Unorthodox paths cannot be performed simultaneously, but it is possible to rapidly alternate between them using Yin-Yang energy.’
The heat of the Fiery River Energy, with the Wish-Granting True Aura created from the Glacial River Divine Art.
And the intense vibrations hidden within the Extreme Polarity Fiery Wheel, with the Thirteen Nocturnes manifested from the Yang Steel True Aura?
He could push back the cascading heat and vibrations.
‘I have to try.’
Bu Eun-seol took a deep breath.
The arts of the Orthodox and Unorthodox paths pursued different goals and could not be mixed; there was no secret to containing both in one body.
But rapidly alternating between them was entirely possible.
Layering.
In the past, the warrior monks of the Blood Shaolin had enhanced the power of their martial arts in a similar way.
‘But if I fail… this is the end.’
Having Yin-Yang energy circulating within his body was one thing, but splitting it into two and unleashing them alternately was another matter entirely.
If he made a mistake, his blood and energy would become hopelessly entangled, and his spirit would be torn in two, plunging him into an irrecoverable inner demon.
But Bu Eun-seol felt not a shred of hesitation.
Even when learning martial arts, he had never once not risked his life.
He had never once thought with the complacent attitude of ‘it’ll work out somehow.’
He trusted only in his own abilities and the time he had spent in arduous training.
*Zzzzing.*
Without hesitation, Bu Eun-seol unleashed his internal energy, drawing up the Glacial River Divine Art and simultaneously generating the Wish-Granting True Aura.
*Woooong!*
A white current spread from his left hand, and at the same time, a round barrier formed around his body.
It was the Wish-Granting True Aura, created from extreme yin energy.
The Glacial River Divine Art and the Wish-Granting True Aura both belonged to the same school of demonic arts, so they could be mixed without issue.
‘Now!’
*Swish! Swish!*
Quickly ceasing the Glacial River Divine Art and the Wish-Granting True Aura, he once again extended his right arm, creating five sharp strands of power.
It was the Thirteen Nocturnes, manifested through the Martial Emperor’s Orthodox Scripture by drawing up the Yang Steel True Aura.
Bu Eun-seol began to rapidly repeat this absurd process.
*Woong! Swish!*
As the Wish-Granting True Aura infused with the Glacial River Divine Art and the Thirteen Nocturnes created from the Yang Steel True Aura alternately enveloped his entire body,
the vibrations that had been shaking the moisture in his body began to be repelled, unable to pass through his flesh.
But Bu Eun-seol’s vision blurred, and a sweet taste rose from his lower abdomen.
‘I can’t hold out for long.’
This technique was merely a temporary measure devised in a life-or-death situation.
To divide the ultimate arts of the Orthodox and Unorthodox paths with Yin-Yang energy and rapidly unleash them in turn… was an act of self-destruction that could shatter his spirit.
Because the Orthodox and the Demonic could neither coexist nor be contained in the same place.
Yet he was rapidly alternating between them… What if he hadn’t broken through the sixth stage of the Reverse Extremes Divine Art and achieved Spiritual Aperture Enlightenment?
The moment he attempted such a feat, he would have suffered from mental confusion or gone completely mad.
‘Ugh…’
Enduring the splitting headache, Bu Eun-seol put his entire being into walking forward.
‘Just a little more.’
Finally, a massive iron door came into his blurry vision.
Staggering forward, he struggled to pull the Fiery Wheel Crystal from his robes and pushed it hard into a round indentation.
*Clank. Rumble.*
The massive iron door opened, and the powerful suction force erupting from the ground vanished.
“Hoo, hoo.”
Bu Eun-seol was on the verge of losing consciousness, but he instinctively entered the open door.
Inside, he saw a stone chamber, and on a small altar, a crimson staff was emitting an arcane light.
*Thud. Thud.*
Walking weakly, he unknowingly reached out his hand toward the staff that appeared through his hazy vision.
*Fwoooosh!*
Suddenly, a light like the sun poured out from the staff.
And just as abruptly, Bu Eun-seol’s body began to catch fire.
The energy flowing from the staff was hundreds of times greater than the Fiery River Energy that had been pouring into the passage until now.
*Fwoosh.*
As that immense energy erupted all at once, Bu Eun-seol’s body instantly became a great flame and began to burn.
*Shwoooo!*
At that moment, an incredible chill and a blue current began to flow out of Bu Eun-seol’s body.
As the extreme yang power, capable of melting even steel, poured out, his Glacial River Divine Art had naturally activated.
*Crack! Fwoosh!*
Bu Eun-seol, now a block of ice, was continuously emitting a cold aura, resisting the power of the cascading flames.
As he held on, endlessly battling the heat,
*Crack! Crumble.*
The altar, caught between the flames and the frost, suddenly crumbled like a biscuit.
The entire floor completely gave way.
And Bu Eun-seol’s body fell into a bottomless pit.
***
*Rumble! Crash!*
In front of the statue of the Fiery River Sage, outside the secret palace’s passage, Hwa-jeong’s eyes flashed.
“Something has happened.”
Intuitively sensing that something was wrong, she quickly entered the passage.
Unlike before, the passage to the secret palace no longer held the Fiery River Energy or the Extreme Polarity Fiery Wheel.
When she finally entered the opened door of the secret palace, she saw a wide stone chamber.
And on the floor were the remains of a melted altar and blackened marks.
‘Where is the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff, and why are there only these traces?’
Palace Lord Hwa-jeong frowned.
From the beginning, she had known all the traps of this secret palace.
Even if someone with the Sacred Fire Body opened the door to the secret palace, they could never obtain the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff.
Because if one had not mastered the Fiery River Sacred Flame Energy left by the Fiery River Sage,
they would not be able to withstand the power of the Fiery River Energy contained within the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff, and their body would completely melt away.
‘I intended to frame it as him dying while carelessly trying to take the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff.’
Hwa-jeong had secretly summoned Bu Eun-seol to ensure there were no witnesses.
Even if the Martial Alliance investigated,
she could simply say that Bu Eun-seol, unable to overcome his curiosity, had entered the secret palace on his own and met with disaster.
But for him to have vanished without a trace, along with the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff… there could be no greater disaster.
‘Whatever else, I must find the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff.’
Hwa-jeong bit her lip.
She was a person of the Three Realms and had long researched artificial inner cores.
She had discovered that by using pure extreme yang energy, she could alter the nature of the demonic fetus that served as the seed for an artificial inner core.
That was why she had recruited Gwang-yang-ja, who was well-versed in the arts of the Fiery River Sacred Palace and was also an excellent physician.
—Use the Fiery Wheel Crystal to find a way to supplement the side effects of this demonic fetus.
At that, Gwang-yang-ja asked in great surprise.
—Aren’t artificial inner cores used by those strange factions that throw the martial world into chaos? Where did you get such a thing?
—This isn’t an artificial inner core, but a demonic fetus that can be used to create one. I came across it by chance… but this core has many problems, so much research will be needed for the disciples of this palace to use it.
Gwang-yang-ja had refused outright at first.
But she had persistently persuaded him that through the artificial inner cores, the martial prowess of the Fiery River Sacred Palace disciples could be rapidly advanced…
and that it could be the foundation for the Fiery River Sacred Palace to conquer the world.
Gwang-yang-ja was a longtime loyalist of the Fiery River Sacred Palace, and it was his long-held wish to see the palace conquer not just the Southern Man region but the entire martial world.
In the end, he began his research on the demonic fetus and made great progress.
He discovered that by using the Fiery Wheel Crystal, he could create an inner core with extreme yang properties, like that of a ten-thousand-year-old Fire Carp.
And that if they recovered the perfect extreme yang energy hidden in the secret palace of the Fiery River Sacred Palace,
the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff, which contained the Fiery River Energy of the Fiery River Sage… they could create an artificial inner core with no side effects at all.
—Were you also a person of the Three Realms?
However, during his research, Gwang-yang-ja discovered that Hwa-jeong was a person of the Three Realms.
He immediately fled the Fiery River Sacred Palace with the thousand-odd demonic fetuses and the Fiery Wheel Crystals that Hwa-jeong had provided.
—If I can turn these thousand demonic fetuses into extreme yang cores, I can create an invincible legion that no one can dare to challenge the Fiery River Sacred Palace.
Even while being pursued by Hwa-jeong, he manufactured the extreme yang cores.
Once they were complete, he planned to contact the Young Palace Lord, create a legion of a thousand, oust Hwa-jeong, and then find the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff in the secret palace.
But he was caught and killed by Bu Eun-seol while in the process of burning a vagrant to death.
“Red Snake. The only reason I endured living with that smelly old man was to obtain the perfect inner core!”
Hwa-jeong, jolted from her reminiscence, bit her lip.
If she couldn’t find the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff, all her efforts up to now would be for naught.
No matter what, she had to retrieve it.
***
Having fallen into the pit, Bu Eun-seol lay collapsed, still clutching the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff.
The Fiery River Energy, hot enough to melt his meridians, still flowed from the staff, and he was constantly resisting it with the Glacial River Divine Art.
‘Incredible…’
To think that the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff, a mere object despite being a divine artifact, was on par with his Glacial River Divine Art, which was pouring out nearly five hundred years’ worth of internal energy.
*Woooong!*
At that moment, a stream of heat rose from his dantian, and soon his entire body began to shimmer with a silver light.
Then, the heat of the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff began to change into a pleasant warmth.
Simultaneously, a wave of exhaustion washed over Bu Eun-seol, and his eyes slowly closed.
And without realizing it, he slowly fell into a deep sleep.
—You fell asleep reading a book in secret again.
Bu Eun-seol was dreaming.
He was seeing himself as a child.
—If you keep reading books like this, your father will get scolded again.
His father, who had carried him to his bed, carefully placed the book from the table back on the bookshelf.
It was always like this.
He was always asleep, but his consciousness was always awake… so he could hear everything his father and mother said.
But as his father went out the door, he heard his mother’s gentle but sigh-filled voice.
—You fell asleep reading again, I see.
—No. Today I just came to see if he was sleeping well.
Hearing his father’s flustered voice, a smile crept onto the lips of Bu Eun-seol, who was pretending to be asleep.
But then he heard his mother’s worried voice.
—Sometimes, I’m afraid.
—Of what?
—That this child… will have the same fate as you.
Then his father’s firm voice followed.
—Don’t worry. Didn’t the Living Buddha declare it? As long as we don’t shave this child’s head and send him to Shaolin, he will never…
*Flash.*
Waking from the dream, Bu Eun-seol slowly opened his eyes.
Looking around, he saw the scenery of a vast cave, at least fifty feet high.
A faint light emanated from the distant ceiling, brightly illuminating the interior.
‘I dreamed of my parents again.’
As Bu Eun-seol recalled the dream he had just had, feelings of joy and anguish rose in him at the same time.
His kind father’s and gentle mother’s voices still seemed to echo in his ears…
but he couldn’t remember their faces or appearances at all.
‘Living Buddha?’
Bu Eun-seol mulled over the word that came to mind.
Living Buddha.
It was a term of respect for a high monk with great spiritual power. It was used for both monks of the Central Plains and lamas of the Western Regions, so… perhaps it didn't hold any special meaning.
—That this child… will have the same fate as you.
However, the words his mother had spoken at the end of the dream suddenly weighed on his mind.
‘Did my father not live a very good life?’
As he tried to search his memory, a throbbing pain shot through his head.
“I don’t know why a new memory suddenly surfaced.”
Shaking his head, Bu Eun-seol got up and looked around.
“To think there was a mechanism in such an unexpected place.”
Bu Eun-seol let out a bitter smile as he looked up at the already-closed ceiling.
He had been so focused on pouring out his energy to resist the powerful extreme yang energy that he hadn’t sensed the mechanism beneath his feet.
“I’m still far from perfect.”
Even when using every last ounce of his strength, he must always keep his senses sharp.
Even on the brink of death, Bu Eun-seol
was once again finding his own mistakes and trying to improve upon them.
It was no different from how he used to improve his martial arts by finding the scars on the rivals he had defeated in the past.
The world might praise him as a genius of martial arts, but the reality was different.
Because he never rested in his efforts, not even for a single moment, as naturally as breathing…
he was developing much faster than others.
“I look a mess.”
Bu Eun-seol snorted as he looked down at his tattered clothes.
He had fought the Fiery River Energy with all his might, but in the end, his clothes had been turned to rags.
“I don’t understand. Did the Fiery River Sage intend to annihilate all the descendants who came to find him?”
Bu Eun-seol shook his head as he looked at the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff, a metal flute the size of a staff, lying on the ground.
What if Bu Eun-seol hadn’t taken the risk of alternating between two great martial arts using Yin-Yang energy?
He would have already lost his life in the passage leading to the secret palace.
And what if he hadn’t learned the Glacial River Divine Art?
No matter how great a martial artist one was, their body would have instantly melted away from the extreme yang energy, the Fiery River Energy, contained in the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff.
“The grandmasters of the past created unimaginable mechanisms.”
The Martial Emperor’s Vault also had mechanisms that would render even a skilled martial artist helpless.
And the Fiery River Sage, too, had created a mechanism that was practically impossible to breach…
one that denied access to anyone who wasn't a martial artist on the level of Bu Eun-seol, risking their life in a bizarre adventure, let alone someone with a Sacred Fire Body.
“In the end, what the Fiery River Sage wanted wasn’t someone with a Sacred Fire Body, but a skilled outsider.”
Shaking his head, Bu Eun-seol suddenly,
“…!”
felt a strange energy in his right arm and waved both his hands.
As he did, a strange current spread out in accordance with the movement of his right arm.
*Fwoooosh!*
Wasn’t it the Fiery River Energy and the Extreme Polarity Fiery Wheel that had been persistently trying to destroy his body until now?
“This was absorbed into my body?”
Bu Eun-seol’s eyes widened.
He had clearly blocked that energy completely with the Wish-Granting True Aura and the Thirteen Nocturnes.
How could that energy have seeped into his body?
‘Don’t tell me.’
Bu Eun-seol looked at the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff lying on the ground.
Unlike when he first saw it, all of its strange light had vanished, making it look like an ordinary flute.
*Grab.*
Bu Eun-seol picked up the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff again.
But the sun-like energy that had been contained within it was all gone.
*Crumble.*
When he applied force, the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff turned to dust and disappeared.
“Oops.”
Bu Eun-seol let out a hollow laugh.
He had turned the treasure of the Fiery River Sacred Palace to dust with his own hands.
“What am I supposed to do about this?”
As he extended his right arm and thought of the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff again,
*Fwoosh!*
a fireball-like energy suddenly poured out, and intense heat began to spread in all directions.
It turned out that all the power contained within the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff had been absorbed into Bu Eun-seol’s meridians, and it had crumbled once its function was complete.
At that moment, his father’s voice from the dream about Mumu suddenly brushed past his ears.
—If you learn martial arts, this great law will one day be broken. Please, do not involve yourself in the martial world…
“So that’s what it was.”
Only now did he understand what those words meant.
“When my martial skill level rises or I receive a shock… my memories return.”
When he had regained his memories from being Mumu, his internal energy level had suddenly risen due to a mysterious power, and a great shock had been dealt to his brain meridians.
And now, too, his brain meridians had been greatly shaken by the power of the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff… and another fragment of his memory had returned.
“I need to get stronger quickly. Or get hit hard and knocked out.”
He said it like a joke, but Bu Eun-seol’s heart grew slightly anxious.
He now had one more reason to get stronger faster.
Because he needed to regain his memories as soon as possible… to find not only his grandfather but also his parents’ whereabouts, and the enemy who killed them.
*Sizzle. Sizzzle.*
As his concentration wavered, the Fiery Wheel Divine Staff that had formed in the air slowly began to disappear again.
“It seems I’ve unintentionally absorbed something that belongs to someone else.”
Bu Eun-seol’s eyes narrowed as he looked down at his right hand.
What if Palace Lord Hwa-jeong had been an honest person?
Bu Eun-seol would have found a way to return the power of this Fiery Wheel Divine Staff.
But she had used him as bait to open the door of the secret palace. She would have probably reported it to the Martial Alliance as an accident.
Therefore, Bu Eun-seol had absolutely no intention of returning this power to her.
*Thud, thud.*
Looking around, Bu Eun-seol began to walk toward the inner part of the cave.
Then, a warm breeze blew from somewhere. It was proof that there was a way out.
“Good.”
The cool breeze passed by, gently caressing his body as if to soothe the exhausted Bu Eun-seol.
“That is.”
When he reached the end of the cave, he found a large stone chamber had been built there, and a door leading outside was visible at the far end.
And on one side of the stone chamber, a mummified skeleton sat in a cross-legged position.
Its features were unrecognizable as it had turned into something like tree bark, but even as a mummy, it exuded a sense of dignity and solemnity.
It was likely the remains of the founder of the Fiery River Sacred Palace, who had built this secret palace, the Fiery River Sage.
‘Why are the remains of the Fiery River Sage hidden in a mechanism deep within the secret palace?’
The Fiery River Sage was known to have lived out his natural lifespan and passed away quietly in the Fiery River Sacred Palace.
Does that mean this mummy wasn’t the Fiery River Sage?
“I apologize for disturbing your eternal rest.”
Bu Eun-seol bowed his head respectfully and clasped his hands together.
“I am not a disciple of the Fiery River Sacred Palace, but I have entered the secret palace unintentionally. I will go outside and inform them that your remains are here and…”
*Grind.*
Before he could finish his words, the stone chamber shook for a moment.
*Scrape.*
As if being eaten away by ants, the walls began to be carved bit by bit, and characters began to form.
Great Essence True Energy of the Fiery River.
Amazingly, the sacred scripture of the Fiery River Sage’s true esoteric art, the Great Essence True Energy of the Fiery River, was being carved onto the walls of the stone chamber.