The Ghost Gate Opens
The Ghost Gate. [It appears a battle has broken out.]
The warriors running right beside Namgung Woo's group. At the very front of the Hebei Paeng Family's martial artists, Paeng Mu-ho sent a voice transmission to Paeng Ha-ryeong. Paeng Ha-ryeong, as befitting a proper Peak Realm expert, replied in kind through voice transmission.
[The aura is quite substantial.]
[Indeed. At the very least, it must be a Peak Realm expert.]
[It seems their speed is increasing. Shouldn't we pick up our pace as well… Uncle?]
Piiiieeeeee— Pii— Pii—
Signal arrows shot into the sky. One long whistle followed by two short ones. It was the prearranged signal they had established for the type of Ghost Gate they were dealing with.
"A spirit-type… This is going to be troublesome."
Paeng Mu-ho spoke aloud. Since the matter concerning Namgung Woo was still uncertain, they had exchanged opinions through voice transmission. But this was different. The other Paeng Family warriors needed to hear this as well.
"Ha-ryeong, what will you do?"
At Paeng Mu-ho's question, conflict stirred within Paeng Ha-ryeong's heart. In truth, she wanted to follow Namgung Woo and see with her own eyes exactly what kind of man he was. However, the Specter Ghost carried far too high a risk.
After the imperial family moved the capital to Beijing, many of Hebei's Murim forces had either fled to other regions under imperial pressure or abandoned their martial arts entirely to pursue official careers. So why had the Hebei Paeng Family been able to hold its ground?
Was it because they had willingly given up their original home of Beijing and moved to Tianjin? Or because they had supported the victorious Yongle Emperor during the civil war between the Jianwen Emperor and the Yongle Emperor? Or perhaps because they had sent their warriors to serve in the Jinyiwei after Beijing became the capital of the Ming Dynasty, thereby proving their loyalty?
Those reasons certainly played a part. But the fundamental cause lay elsewhere.
The Paeng Family had been able to survive in Hebei and maintain its power because it had earned the support of the common people. As a prestigious righteous clan that had devoted itself to the welfare of the populace, the people themselves had risen up to protect them. That was why the imperial family had permitted the Paeng Family to remain in Hebei.
This stood in stark contrast to the Jinju Eon Family, another Murim clan based in Hebei, which had been driven out entirely.
Therefore, the Hebei Paeng Family could not abandon the common people. They must not.
Paeng Ha-ryeong squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then opened them again, having made her decision.
"…Paeng Wi, Paeng Sa-beon, and Paeng Woo-chaek. The three of you, split up and assist the other warriors. First-class martial artists should be able to handle Specter Ghosts, but without a Peak Realm expert, eliminating them will be difficult."
"We shall obey your command."
The three whose names had been called answered in perfect unison.
"Hurry. If even a single Specter Ghost enters Muan County, a massacre could break out."
Yokai were never born in their final form. They too grew. And unlike humans, whose growth was heavily influenced by time, their rate of development was unmatched. They grew stronger at a terrifying pace. This was because their method of growth was not through accumulating qi, meditation, or training, but through predation alone.
"Uncle, let's go. We must close the Ghost Gate."
Among the Hebei Paeng Family, Paeng Mu-ho was one of their few supreme experts. Although he had not yet crossed the wall into the Transcendent Realm, he should still be capable of closing a blue Ghost Gate. There was no one else at the moment.
'I don't know how strong that man called Nam Woo is… but choosing the certain path is correct.'
If that man truly had the potential to become the hope of both Paeng Ha-ryeong and the Paeng Family, he would surely reveal his brilliance even without her by his side. Believing this, Paeng Ha-ryeong changed direction to take the route that would most effectively tighten the encirclement around the Ghost Gate.
'They're moving away.'
Namgung Woo sensed the presence of those beside him gradually increasing their distance. For some reason, the Paeng Family warriors who had been maintaining a fixed distance around him suddenly scattered in all directions. After confirming this, Namgung Woo withdrew the qi sense he had spread widely.
The internal energy he had extended according to his will gathered back in. His control over internal energy had already reached a considerably high level of proficiency.
However, the Yang twins, unaware that Namgung Woo had been secretly extending his qi sense, were completely focused on the scene unfolding before them and urgently offered advice.
"Young Hero! You must conserve your internal energy! The number of these things is no joke!"
"Damn it! This is supposed to be red? Anyone would call this blue!"
Swish! Slash!
Namgung Woo, taking the lead, did not bother dealing with the Specter Ghosts aiming for their flanks. He left those to the Yang twins. Having already assessed the brothers' level, he had calculated that they could handle that much without issue.
That meant Namgung Woo himself could freely cut down only the ghost-like creatures blocking his path ahead.
Namgung Woo's sword flashed once more.
Screeech!
"Sword qi again…! Young Hero, I told you to conserve your internal energy!"
"It's fine."
The Heavenly Thunder Divine Art filling his lower dantian showed no sign of running dry. Even though he had been manifesting sword qi continuously since taking the lead and had even begun using flying sword qi, the Heavenly Thunder qi only grew more vigorous instead of weakening.
Besides, Namgung Woo possessed not only the internal energy in his lower dantian but two more dantians comparable to it. The three dantians—upper, middle, and lower.
Namgung Woo had filled each dantian with a different type of internal energy. One might wonder why he hadn't unified them under a single cultivation method, but filling all three dantians with the same internal energy was an incredibly difficult task.
Depending on which dantian was used, the nature of the internal energy cultivation method changed completely. The Eight Extraordinary Meridians and the Twelve Principal Meridians. Including the entire body's minor meridians, the possible pathways for qi were virtually infinite.
Since the circulation path of an internal energy method referred to how it traveled through these meridians, the choice of primary dantian greatly affected its efficacy.
The lower dantian's Qihai point, the middle dantian's Yutang point, and the upper dantian's Yintang point. The Qihai and Yutang points belonged to the Conception Vessel, but the Yintang point was one of the forty-eight extra points not included in the Fourteen Main Meridians.
Therefore, a cultivation method centered on the lower dantian could naturally train the middle dantian since it shared the same Conception Vessel, but the upper dantian was an entirely separate domain. Moreover, while lower dantian methods could sometimes open the middle dantian, most did not involve the upper dantian at all.
For example, the Cheonroe Jewang Singong was a method centered on the lower dantian. Its goal was to spread its thunder-like power throughout the body, so it primarily dealt with the Twelve Principal Meridians. As a result, it had little to do with the middle dantian's Yutang point or the upper dantian's Yintang point, making it unsuitable for storing the internal energy of the Heavenly Thunder Divine Art there.
One could force internal energy into a dantian outside the circulation path, but it would be an inefficient choice with no real need.
On the other hand, the internal energy of the Changgung Daeyeon Singong residing in Namgung Woo's middle dantian was different. The concept contained within the Blue Sky Great Expansion Divine Art was that of an endlessly unfolding, vast sky without wavering. In other words, the Changgung Daeyeon Singong centered on the middle dantian—the core of the body—to strengthen physical homeostasis, directing its circulation pathways through the five viscera and six entrails.
In short, as long as the attributes did not conflict and harm the body, there was no need to obsess over a single type of internal energy.
Simultaneously cultivating both orthodox and demonic internal energies would be literal madness, but if they belonged to the same category, it was possible to make use of the principle of mutual enhancement.
Of course, some might argue that rather than learning multiple cultivation methods, it would be better to master a single method that trained all three dantians for deeper achievement. In fact, countless martial artists had attempted to do exactly that. And meaningful results did exist.
Shaolin's Yi Jin Xi Sui Jing, the Huashan Sect's Zihua Divine Art, the Xuanyuan Clan's Yellow Emperor's True Scripture… There were indeed martial arts that trained all three dantians simultaneously.
However, martial arts that demonstrated proper efficacy like these were extremely rare. It was no coincidence that those with genuine utility were called divine arts and became the exclusive secrets of major sects.
The explanation had been lengthy, but to put it simply, even if Namgung Woo used up all the Heavenly Thunder qi in his lower dantian, he would still have the Blue Sky qi remaining in his middle dantian.
Knowing this, Namgung Woo did not hold back and unleashed the Heavenly Thunder qi without restraint.
Platinum lightning blazed brilliantly from the foot of Warong Mountain. The Specter Ghosts blocking Namgung Woo's path could not even let out a scream before vanishing the moment they faced the lightning surging from the ground.
'It's too easy.'
By pouring out sword qi freely, he didn't even need to use proper sword techniques. Simply infusing the slashes of the Iron Sword Ten Forms with sword qi produced power that felt like some legendary sword art from the ages.
It was fine to use his internal energy to his heart's content on this occasion, but it was still far from enough to quench his thirst for martial arts.
"Brother Jeong, do the enemies grow stronger the closer we get to the Ghost Gate?"
"N-not particularly…."
"Hmm…."
Despite that, the creatures standing guard in front of the Ghost Gate as if protecting it possessed an aura on a completely different level from the other Specter Ghosts they had encountered so far. Namgung Woo held this question in his mind for a moment before setting it aside.
It was a place he had to go to anyway. He would see for himself soon enough.
"…The Paeng Family has reached the Ghost Gate first. Let's increase our speed a little more."
"Even faster than this?"
"Little brother… I'm sorry, but this is already our limit."
The reason Paeng Ha-ryeong and Paeng Mu-ho had reached the Ghost Gate ahead of Namgung Woo was not because they were stronger than him. Unlike Namgung Woo, they did not have to match their pace with anyone else.
When fully mature Peak Realm experts unleashed the Paeng Family's lightness techniques—one of the Seven Great Clans—to their fullest, they were naturally faster than Namgung Woo.
'I need to arrive before those two close the Ghost Gate.'
At Namgung Woo's silence, the Yang twins, who had unintentionally become baggage, stood there awkwardly and waited for his next words.
Yang Kvae, who had been watching Namgung Woo's expression, subtly glanced at Yang Jeong.
'Can the two of us make it back on our own?'
There was neither voice transmission nor spoken words, but his twin brother of over twenty years understood his older brother's meaning perfectly.
'It's possible. All the Specter Ghosts have been annihilated by the young hero's sword qi.'
'But pulling out now feels a bit… wrong, doesn't it?'
'What are you saying? We have to stick with him to the end. How many experts even use lightning qi like this?'
To the Yang twins, this moment was like a stroke of fortune. Just as Song Chae-ji had gained a small enlightenment from Namgung Woo's Sword-Heart Unity, the Yang twins were also learning by watching Namgung Woo wield his lightning qi.
Lightning qi was ferociously wild and unpredictable in its movements. While stronger than most other energies, it was equally difficult to control. This was also why the Yang twins, despite possessing outstanding internal energy cultivation methods, had been unable to learn suitable martial arts to match them.
"Little brother, um, I'm sorry to ask, but could you eliminate all the Specter Ghosts for us? If none of them come toward us, we might be able to focus solely on our lightness techniques and increase our speed somehow."
"Of course, asking this without offering anything in return is…."
"Let's do that."