Chapter 35: The Adversary-1
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 35: The Adversary-1
Step, step, step.
With Ok-ryeong on his back, Sun-woo began to move along the mountain ridge.
The terrain was rugged, requiring cautious steps, but Sun-woo didn't seem to care, pushing himself to even greater speeds.
He wanted to get as far away from Lee Jae-won as possible.
His breath came in ragged, desperate gasps.
The strength was draining from the legs that supported him.
The three Gapja of internal energy he once possessed was nearly exhausted.
But he couldn't stop.
If what the Yin-Yang Demon had said was true, he would surely lose consciousness soon.
Before he fainted, he had to find the secret hideout of the Baekgeom Sect at all costs.
The only saving grace was that the hideout was located not far from the summit of White Flower Peak.
Step, step, step.
How long had he been running?
Sun-woo finally reached his destination.
It was a lake at the very top of White Flower Peak.
Since White Flower Peak was originally formed by volcanic activity, it had a substantial crater at its summit, which had filled with water to form a large lake.
Arriving at the lake, Sun-woo frantically turned his head, searching for the entrance to the secret hideout.
'Where is it, dammit?'
If Ok-ryeong were awake, it would have been easier to find, but having been struck on her sleep-inducing pressure point, she was fast asleep.
According to the Yin-Yang Demon, there was supposed to be a turtle-shaped rock near the lake at the summit.
But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't see anything resembling a turtle.
'Where the hell did that old man see a turtle?!'
His urgency turned into reflexive cursing.
He had to find the hideout before his energy flared and he lost consciousness.
It was then.
A pillar-shaped rock at the edge of the lake caught his eye.
'Could it be that?'
Driven by a sliver of hope, Sun-woo ran toward the rock.
The Yin-Yang Demon had mentioned that near the turtle-shaped rock, there would be a laurel flower—the symbol of the Baekgeom Sect.
As he scrutinized the rock, Sun-woo soon found the mark the demon had described.
'This is it.'
Dig, dig, dig.
Sun-woo immediately began to dig at the base of the rock.
Before long, a small turtle-shaped stone statue, small enough to fit in one hand, revealed itself.
Sun-woo grabbed the turtle's shell and began to turn it without hesitation.
Creeeak, creeeak, creeeak.
Three times to the right.
Creeeak.
Once to the left.
Rumbleeeee!
As he turned the statue in the sequence the Yin-Yang Demon had provided, the pillar-shaped rock began to move with a thunderous roar.
The rock slid aside, revealing a set of stairs beneath it.
Thud, thud.
Sun-woo shifted Ok-ryeong from his back to his arms and began to descend the stairs.
Rumbleeeee!
Once they disappeared beneath the stairs, the pillar-shaped rock roared again, sealing the entrance.
The rock stood silently once more, as if nothing had happened, guarding the lake at the mountain's peak.
*
Descending the stairs, Sun-woo soon reached the secret hideout of the Baekgeom Sect.
The first things he noticed were three night-luminescent pearls illuminating the space.
They weren't as bright as the ones in the Cheonmu Alliance's underground hideout, but they provided enough light to see the interior clearly.
There were two stone chambers.
One chamber contained jars filled with fasting pills, while the other held a large, flat rock.
Sun-woo first laid Ok-ryeong down on the flat rock.
Thud.
After laying her down, Sun-woo collapsed against the side of the rock.
"Haa... haa..."
He panted heavily.
Finally, he could rest.
Sun-woo stripped off the Overlord Ghost-Face Armor he was wearing.
Clang.
It was then.
"Gah...!?!"
The moment the Overlord Ghost-Face Armor came off, waves of agony began to crash into him from every direction.
"Aaaargh! Gaaaaah!!"
Sun-woo screamed at the sudden, overwhelming pain.
From his dantian to his acupoints, internal organs, bones, and muscles—everything felt as if it were being torn apart.
He was finally paying the price.
This consequence had been inevitable from the moment he entered a state of temporary awakening to face the Sword Emperor.
Using internal energy to frantically accelerate blood flow for physical enhancement was something a normal martial artist wouldn't even dream of attempting.
While it granted temporary, immense power, the user had to bear the full brunt of the strain placed on the body.
Furthermore, he had used the Overlord Ghost-Face Armor to force a completely exhausted body to move.
His muscles and bones, already pushed to their limits, had been subjected to even more stress.
On top of that, he had accumulated severe internal injuries from being cut repeatedly by Sword Astral.
It was only natural that once the armor suppressing the pain was gone, the agony would come flooding back all at once.
And the final technique the Yin-Yang Demon used to flare Sun-woo's internal energy had placed an enormous burden on his dantian.
It had squeezed every last drop of energy from a dantian already emptied by his fight with the Sword Emperor.
If he had been even a moment later in reaching the hideout, his dantian would have shattered.
"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!"
Sun-woo screamed at the pain radiating from every inch of his body, and tears began to stream down his face.
It hurt too much.
It was too hard.
Every time he writhed in pain, the agony intensified, causing him to writhe even more.
A vicious cycle of suffering had begun.
In all of Sun-woo's memories, combined with those of Jang Sam, he had never experienced pain this severe.
The agony was so extreme that he couldn't even pass out; he simply lay there, drooling and suffering.
"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!"
How long did the pain persist?
His voice went hoarse until he couldn't even scream anymore.
He felt nothing but a pain so intense it threatened to shatter his mind.
His consciousness became so blurred he couldn't tell if this was a dream or reality.
If I die like this, won't the pain stop?
Wouldn't it be better for Ok-ryeong if I just disappeared?
Wouldn't it be better for her to meet someone good, rather than a stranger like me?
Maybe I'm just dreaming?
If I die now, will I go back to my original world?
Will I be able to return to my family's arms?
A chain of extreme, spiraling thoughts shook Sun-woo's mind.
He had reached a point where the excruciating pain made rational thought impossible.
'Yes, let's die. Let's die and escape this pain. If I die, I'll be able to go back.'
Just as Sun-woo was about to bite his tongue—
"You crazy bastard. I went through all that trouble to save you, and now you're trying to die?"
It was the voice of the Yin-Yang Demon.
Step, step.
The sound of footsteps reached Sun-woo's ears.
Soon, the Yin-Yang Demon appeared inside the stone chamber.
Sun-woo, his throat already raw, couldn't say a word.
He could only stare blankly.
"You piece of shit, don't look at me with those dead eyes. It's bad luck."
After speaking, the Yin-Yang Demon approached Sun-woo.
He pressed several of Sun-woo's acupoints and checked his pulse.
"This kid is insane. How is there not a single part of you that's intact? Tsk, tsk."
The Yin-Yang Demon clicked his tongue after checking Sun-woo's condition.
He knew it looked precarious, but he hadn't imagined it would be this dire.
His acupoints were a mess, and his muscles were torn to shreds.
His bones were shattered in various places, and his internal injuries were so severe that his organs were in shambles.
To have flared his internal energy and squeezed his dantian to its limit in such a wrecked state—the pain must have been unimaginable.
Martial artists generally have faster recovery rates than ordinary people because they use internal energy to activate their healing.
However, Sun-woo's dantian had been squeezed dry, leaving him with no energy to trigger his recovery, leaving him to suffer in agony.
"Tsk, tsk. Foolish brat."
The Yin-Yang Demon clicked his tongue again, looking at Sun-woo, who had stubbornly moved in such a state.
With a body this damaged, it seemed unlikely he would ever fully recover, even with treatment.
"I'll save your life for now."
With those words, the Yin-Yang Demon placed his palm on Sun-woo's palm and began to inject Yin-Yang Harmony Qi.
He intended to use his own energy to jumpstart Sun-woo's recovery.
Whooooosh.
The Yin-Yang Harmony Qi possessed by the demon began to flow into Sun-woo's body.
Starting from the palm, the energy began to slowly circulate through the acupoints, beginning the healing process.
It was then.
Vrooooom!!
A massive suction force erupted from Sun-woo's palm, beginning to devour the Yin-Yang Harmony Qi.
"What!?"
Startled, the Yin-Yang Demon tried to pull his hand away, but he couldn't break the connection due to the suction.
"The Great Art of Energy Absorption!?"
There were several martial arts that absorbed internal energy, and all of them were so wicked that merely learning them would get one declared a Public Enemy of the Murim.
The most famous among them was the Great Art of Energy Absorption, practiced by the Great Demon of Energy Absorption, a former elder of the Demonic Cult. It would drain a victim's energy until they were nothing but a withered husk.
Murderous aura flared from the Yin-Yang Demon as he concentrated energy into his other hand.
He was prepared to crush Sun-woo's skull right then and there.
But then, a strange phenomenon occurred.
The Yin-Yang Harmony Qi that Sun-woo's body had absorbed began to flow back out into the demon.
And it did so without any change in the nature of the energy.
The Yin-Yang Demon was momentarily bewildered.
What kind of anomaly was this?
The Great Art of Energy Absorption was a technique to steal an opponent's energy and store it in one's own dantian.
Yet, Sun-woo was absorbing it, circulating it through his acupoints, and then returning it to its source.
Unlike the Great Art of Energy Absorption, which only takes, this was a process of absorption and return.
This was nearly impossible, given how internal energy usually changes characteristics based on the cultivation method.
If it had been stolen via the Great Art of Energy Absorption, the nature of the Yin-Yang Harmony Qi should have changed.
But the energy that returned was still pure Yin-Yang Harmony Qi.
This was impossible unless they practiced the exact same internal energy cultivation method.
"Could this brat be...!?"
The Yin-Yang Demon increased the amount of energy he was sending into Sun-woo.
Swoooooosh.
If what had flowed before was a mere stream, this was now a rushing river.
A massive amount of Yin-Yang Harmony Qi flooded into Sun-woo's body, circulating through his acupoints and maximizing his recovery.
The shredded acupoints began to mend, and the dantian that had been on the verge of shattering began to stabilize.
His mangled internal organs shifted back into place and began to heal, his torn muscles knit together, and his broken bones began to fuse.
"Hahahahahaha!"
At that sight, the Yin-Yang Demon burst into laughter.
He never could have imagined.
That the boy he had rescued from Lee Jae-won would be the successor who had learned the Yin-Yang Harmony Divine Art—the technique he had left behind before his final battle with Seon-ong.
"Hahahahahaha!"
The laughter of the Yin-Yang Demon filled the secret hideout of the Baekgeom Sect.
*
Meanwhile, Sun-woo could feel the Yin-Yang Harmony Qi entering his body through the Yin-Yang Demon's hand.
Since every drop of energy in his dantian had been squeezed out, leaving him unable to even begin healing, the energy the demon provided was his only lifeline.
He accepted the Yin-Yang Harmony Qi absorbed through his palm and began to circulate it through his acupoints.
One cycle, two cycles, three cycles.
Every time the Yin-Yang Harmony Qi passed through an acupoint, he felt his recovery activate.
After about four cycles, once his acupoints had stabilized somewhat, Sun-woo began to flow the Yin-Yang Harmony Qi back to the Yin-Yang Demon.
The Yin-Yang Harmony Divine Art was a martial art of circulation.
The greater the circulation, the purer and more powerful it became.
Sun-woo intended to use not just his own body, but the Yin-Yang Demon's body as well, to circulate the energy.
However, not long after he sent his energy back, a massive amount of Yin-Yang Harmony Qi began to surge in like a tidal wave.
It was an astronomical amount, incomparable to before.
The Yin-Yang Harmony Qi filled every corner of Sun-woo's body, and his recovery reached its peak.
His bones knit together, and his shredded organs, muscles, and acupoints began to heal.
The maddening pain vanished, replaced by a warm, refreshing energy that began to envelop his entire body.
'Ahhh...'
Sun-woo drifted into a state of extreme bliss and promptly lost consciousness.
*
Thud.
After flooding Sun-woo with Yin-Yang Harmony Qi, the Yin-Yang Demon slumped to the ground, exhausted.
"To think he actually learned the Yin-Yang Harmony Divine Art..."
Precisely because he had learned the Yin-Yang Harmony Divine Art, Sun-woo was able to perfectly recover his wrecked body.
Had he practiced any other martial art, such a perfect recovery would have been impossible.
That was how dire Sun-woo's condition had been.
It was no exaggeration to call it a miracle.
"Hmm, a miracle, is it..."
The Yin-Yang Demon stroked his chin, lost in thought.
The situation aligned too perfectly.
He had happened to come to White Flower Peak.
He had been rescued by the demon, who just happened to be passing by.
Furthermore, he had happened to learn the Yin-Yang Harmony Divine Art, allowing him to recover from a state that should have left him a cripple for life.
As a result of these overlapping coincidences, a mere Super-Peak martial artist had survived a confrontation with Lee Jae-won—a man who had reached the Profound Realm, a stage called Half-Immortal—with his body intact.
It was a bizarre series of events.
After a long silence, the Yin-Yang Demon finally spoke.
"...The Adversary."
A smile played on the Yin-Yang Demon's lips as he looked at the unconscious Sun-woo.