Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Awakening in Mount Hua
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Three days had passed.
Time flowed by mercilessly like running water, but the situation I was in now was no different from before.
‘I never imagined I’d end up stuck in this state forever.’
My current physical condition was the worst.
I had expanded the meridians using the energy that entered my body at that time, but it was only a temporary measure and couldn’t fully heal this body.
As a result, this damned body wouldn’t even allow me to move a single finger, let alone open my eyes.
Of course, I could resolve it if I wanted to.
But I deliberately took no special measures.
‘……Not yet.’
Besides, what would I gain by waking up without knowing the situation I was in?
‘On top of that, now that I’ve heard it’s the Mount Hua Sect, it wouldn’t be wise to act rashly.’
Fortunately, my consciousness was clear, and the noises from those chattering around me came through vividly.
Thanks to that, I was able to gather more information than expected and piece together the situation.
‘They all called me Cheonhwi.’
The first time I heard it, I was dumbfounded.
Who was I?
The Absolute Heavenly Demon, Dokgo Goyeun.
I was the supreme being whose fame shook not only the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and the Tianshan Mountains but every corner of the Nine Provinces and Eight Wastes.
‘And they call me Cheonhwi?’
If they had called me that just once or twice, I could have laughed it off.
But I couldn’t laugh it off.
They called me Cheonhwi every single day.
At first, I was confused.
Why were they calling me Cheonhwi?
And why was I in this state?
The more I pondered it, the only conclusion I reached was this:
That I am Cheonhwi now.
There were no other answers, so what could I do?
‘I’ll just have to accept it.’
With that acceptance, I organized my thoughts.
If my guess was correct, my soul had taken over the empty shell left behind after the soul of this kid named Cheonhwi departed, thanks to that great law.
‘Does that mean the Eternal Life Immortal Dominion Great Law failed……?’
Irritation surged up instantly.
It was a great law into which I had poured ten years of time and all my knowledge.
And it failed?
‘No, it couldn’t have failed.’
I recalled the situation at that time.
The Eternal Life Immortal Dominion Great Law had activated, and multicolored lights unlike anything of this mortal world enveloped me.
The great law was perfect as written?
Why did this happen?
‘Could it be!’
A bolt of realization struck my mind.
Eternal life and immortality meant transferring the soul to occupy another person’s body…….
‘Damn it! You should have written properly what happens afterward.’
Curses rose naturally.
Was there at least some fortune in this?
I had no lingering attachments to my past life.
Not fame, not status.
Why would I? If I had any attachments, would I have abdicated the cult leader position and left the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult so casually?
That said, I had no interest in eternal life and immortality either.
Where there is life, there is death.
I intended to follow the natural order.
It was a bit regrettable that I hadn’t mastered all the martial arts of the world, though.
But!
This dogshit situation I was in now did not sit well with me at all.
Mount Hua Sect? Mount Hua Orthodox Sect?
The Mount Hua Sect of the Nine Great Sects, which had been a constant thorn in my side?
And I’m a disciple there?
What utter bullshit.
But there was no helping it.
The situation had already turned out this way.
‘I need to learn about this Cheonhwi guy.’
From that day on, I held my breath and focused on gathering information by listening closely.
Fortunately, most of the visitors were people connected to Cheonhwi, so information overflowed.
By eavesdropping on their conversations and steadily collecting information, I was able to roughly grasp who this kid Cheonhwi was.
An age not even reaching the scholarly stage.
The youngest disciple of Hyeon-gang of the Wise Generation, now deceased.
A pure and kind child loved by everyone in the Mount Hua Sect.
Those were all descriptions referring to Cheonhwi.
And now, they described me.
Pfft―
Who was it that said you laugh when something is too absurd?
That was exactly my state of mind.
Pure, kind, and loved?
Words I had never heard in my entire life.
If someone in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult said that to me, I’d suspect them first.
Of course, no one would say such a thing.
‘Because the Cheonhwi they’re talking about isn’t me.’
As all my thoughts came to an end.
“…….”
Just then, the voices that had occasionally been coming ceased entirely.
Following that, the spreading silence soon completely engulfed the Medical Hall.
‘I’ve gathered enough useful information, so shall I move now?’
I concentrated my mind and examined my body.
As expected, the inside of my body was a mess.
The meridians were far from sturdy, and the twelve standard meridians where qi and blood circulated were completely blocked.
A state where death wouldn’t be strange at any moment.
Unlike Cheongo’s words three days ago that I just needed rest to stabilize, my body was teetering precariously on the boundary between life and death.
And that was only natural.
No matter how much medical knowledge he had, he couldn’t grasp the details.
What he had perceived at the time was the meridians expanded using the Perilla Seed Pill’s energy.
Anyone other than me would have judged that Cheonhwi had stabilized.
‘Of course, if they knew about this body now, they would have noticed something was off…… But if they knew, they wouldn’t have left it like this until now.’
Something I discovered while examining my body.
The collapse wasn’t due to frailty.
It was because of a bizarre absolute meridian blockage.
‘I didn’t think it actually existed.’
It was back when I was once immersed in medicine.
I recalled a medical text covered in white dust in a corner of the Heavenly Demon Library.
Supreme Medical Scripture of the World.
The title alone was absurd, and the book was written by a quack physician who practiced strange arts back then, the Eccentric of Life and Death.
Unlike its title, the book wasn’t a proper medical text.
Methods to make jiangshi more efficient.
Could transplanting a rotten arm allow a jiangshi to learn the Skeleton Art?
It was filled with things about human experiments that no proper physician would ever do.
‘Excluding it being a medical text, it was quite an interesting book.’
Still, as a physician’s work, it had its merits as a medical text.
It detailed all sorts of absolute meridian blockages and constitutions in the world.
Through human experiments, perhaps.
There were even constitutions I had never heard of.
Tri-Spirit Pure Yin Body, Five Demons Body, Indestructible Heavenly Gang Body, Heavenly Slaughter Light Yin Meridian, and so on.
At the time, I thought it was all nonsense, but now I could believe it.
No, I had to believe it.
Because this body was one of those absolute meridian blockages described in detail.
Yin-Yang Supreme Spirit Absolute Meridian.
A constitution born simultaneously bearing the yin energy of a hundred people and the yang energy of a hundred people.
The original owner of this body, the young Daoist, must have endured that energy with great difficulty.
And eventually, unable to hold out, he withered away and died.
‘And my soul took over the shell that lost its soul.’
I could guess what had happened.
‘No point overthinking it; it’ll just complicate things. For now, let’s fix the absolute meridian blockage.’
If the Eccentric of Life and Death were here now, I’d snort at him.
―The Yin-Yang Supreme Spirit Absolute Meridian is the most cursed among all absolute meridian blockages. How could a human alone bear and process the yin and yang energies of a hundred people?
Even he, who conducted all sorts of bizarre human experiments, had declared there was no method for the Yin-Yang Supreme Spirit Absolute Meridian.
And now, to fix the constitution?
He’d scoff, saying what nonsense.
‘That’s your thinking.’
But instead, I snorted.
‘Of course, mortals like you would have failed, but I can do it.’
I slowly swept through the body’s energy.
Fortunately, there was plenty of energy.
The Perilla Seed Pill’s energy dormant in the meridians, unabsorbed.
Then…….
Thump―
Blood raced through my entire body.
Along with it, my spirit heightened.
Whoosh!
Vast inner energy swirled fiercely.
It was shocking.
Cheonhwi was a Daoist who hadn’t learned martial arts.
Yet this immense inner energy.
‘As expected, it manifests even without internal arts.’
It was the utility of the Absolute Dominion Art.
Normal heart methods accumulated internal energy in the lower dantian to manifest power, but the Absolute Dominion Art was on a different track.
Generally, heart methods accumulated internal energy in the lower dantian and handled it from there.
Thus, one’s prowess and strength were naturally determined by the amount of accumulated internal energy.
But the Absolute Dominion Art shattered that framework.
The soul.
The soul was the vessel of the Absolute Dominion Art.
Thus, I could awaken it.
At a glance, it seemed no different from other heart methods, but that one difference set it apart and elevated its level.
Added to that was my own exceptional talent, transforming the Absolute Dominion Art into a peerless heart method that far surpassed all known martial arts of the world.
‘Since the vessel isn’t in the lower dantian, I can utilize all three dantians.’
Creak―
The Baihui acupoint opened.
Through it, an indescribable energy poured in like a vast sea, striking the dormant Perilla Seed Pill energies in the meridians.
Boom! Boom!
The eight extraordinary meridians opened.
The yin and yang energies of about a hundred people circulated through the eight extraordinary meridians and flowed into the twelve standard meridians.
From the Governor Vessel and Conception Vessel to the Thoroughfare Vessel, Belt Vessel, Yang Heel Vessel, Yin Heel Vessel, Yang Linking Vessel, and Yin Linking Vessel.
All circulations were natural.
Finally, as the energies swept through the twelve standard meridians, it ended.
* * *
Blink―
My eyes, heavy as a thousand catties, opened.
With a refreshed mind as if awakening from a long sleep, I moved my neck.
Crack― Crack―
My neck was still stiff to move, but compared to before, it was heavenly.
With that, I rose from the bed.
“…….”
I immediately sensed the change.
The drastically lowered eye level.
And the small hands and feet.
I could tell at a glance that I had become younger.
“They said fourteen, but this is much smaller than I thought.”
A thin voice unexpectedly rang out, and I touched my neck.
Then I scratched the back of my head.
Standing still and pondering endlessly wouldn’t solve anything.
For now, moving was important.
“Let’s check it out myself first.”
I raised my head and gazed out the window.
Far away, the morning sun was rising, chasing away the thick darkness at just the right moment.
Step― Step―
I slowly took steps forward.
After walking along the still dark interior for a moment, a closed door came into view.
The moment I opened the door without hesitation.
Flash!
Pure white light invaded my eyes.
“Ugh!”
I raised my hand against the intense light.
Was it because I hadn’t seen light for so long?
Facing the light, my eyes stung.
In the end, after blinking a few times.
Swipe―
I slowly lowered my hand.
The pure white light began to take on beautiful colors, unfolding a magnificent view.
Plum blossom petals scattering in the wind.
Rugged peaks as if sliced by a blade.
For a moment, I lost my senses.
It was a beautiful landscape completely different from the barren scenery I had seen in the Tianshan Mountains.
―Hah!
Suddenly, a vigorous shout from below pulled my jaw down, and I looked below.
There was a vast training ground.
And atop that training ground, Daoists clad in robes emblazoned with plum blossom patterns were vigorously swinging their swords.
“Damn it!”
I glared down at the Daoists with utter displeasure and scratched my head vigorously.
“It really is Mount Hua.”
The supreme master of the demonic path, the Absolute Heavenly Demon.
He, who had made the Nine Provinces and Eight Wastes tremble in fear, had awakened as a disciple of the righteous Mount Hua Sect—one of the pillars of the Nine Great Sects.