Chapter 114: Chun-bong's Puberty (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 114: Chun-bong's Puberty (1)
The room was empty.
Though Seo-jun had skipped his training, Chun-bong had not.
Seo-jun sat cross-legged in the center of the room and set the wooden box down.
I’ll try it myself first…
Chun-bong and Namgung Su-ah would be consuming the Heaven-Man Divine Elixir, not the Heavenly Demon Divine Pill. However, since the Heaven-Man Divine Elixir served as the foundation for the Heavenly Demon Divine Pill, experiencing its effects firsthand would allow him to properly guide them when it was their turn.
He didn't need to worry about the supply of the Heaven-Man Divine Elixir. He had created it with mass production in mind. Unless he planned to distribute it to the entire Namgung Clan, they weren't going to run out anytime soon.
Naturally, one would go to Namgung Myeong, and he figured he’d give another to old man Jang-geuk. As for his father-in-law… well, he probably didn't need one in the first place.
Anyway, that was a matter for later.
“Hmm.”
Having organized his thoughts, he picked up the wooden box. The moment he opened the lid, a sweet yet faintly metallic scent tickled his nose.
Seo-jun stared at the Heavenly Demon Divine Pill, its surface shimmering with a metallic luster, before popping it into his mouth.
Gulp—
The moment it entered his mouth, the Heavenly Demon Divine Pill melted and flowed down his throat.
The elixir, imbued with the Principle of Heaven-Defying, spread to every corner of his body. Seo-jun immediately circulated his internal energy to assist the process.
Crack, snap!
Instead of sinking into his dantian to increase his internal energy, the qi from the Heavenly Demon Divine Pill soaked directly into his flesh and blood.
The Reverse Five Elements Formation dwelling within the pill guided his physical form toward the reverse providence. His body—already evolved to suit his martial arts through Bone-Cleansing and Body-Changing—reacted instantly, stepping onto an entirely new path.
His goal lay somewhere between the natural order and its reverse: Primordial Unity, a state that could be described as both nothingness and existence.
The inner core situated at the center of his body maintained this delicate balance, reconstructing his entire frame around its axis. The primary objective in this process was to use Primordial Unity Qi as a foundation, elevating his physical body one step closer to the true state of Primordial Unity.
“Whew…”
Only the sound of long, steady breathing echoed in the room.
* * *
“Mmm…”
He opened his eyes. Something white and soft-looking was right in front of him. He instinctively moved his mouth toward it.
“Nom.”
“Aghhhhh!”
Chun-bong’s scream rang out.
Snapping to his senses, Seo-jun saw Chun-bong frantically rubbing her cheek, which now bore a very clear set of teeth marks.
“Wh-what do you think you’re doing?!”
“Wow… I thought I was about to ascend to the heavens.”
Seo-jun smacked his lips, savoring the lingering sensation. Her cheek was just so… pinchable.
Suppressing his lingering impulses, Seo-jun manifested Astral Qi across his body, burning away the minute impurities that had seeped out through his pores.
As he clenched his fist, a strange surge of power coursed through him. It wasn't quite Demonification, but it felt like he was halfway there. Driven by a newfound sense of certainty, he mixed Yin and Yang energy at his fingertips.
Whoosh!
Primordial Unity Sun-Moon Astral Qi instantly enshrouded his finger.
It takes a bit of time, but… this isn’t bad.
The brief delay it took to manifest the Primordial Unity Sun-Moon Astral Qi could easily be covered by using other martial arts in the meantime. Having secured a new trump card, Seo-jun smirked.
“Behold, Chun-bong. I am the Heavenly Demon.”
“I told you to stop acting like a lunatic! You almost got yourself into deep trouble pulling that stunt last time.”
Was it Great Master Jiam? That monk with the reverse-long-hair.
Seo-jun chuckled as the man's face suddenly came to mind.
“I could totally crush him now.”
“You’re going to crush Shaolin?”
“Well, maybe not that far…”
Even if he suspected their reputation was a bit inflated, Shaolin was still Shaolin. If some bald monk in the Transcendent Realm suddenly popped out, he’d be in real trouble.
Then, squish. Seo-jun blanked out for a moment as a heavy, soft weight settled on top of his head.
“Hehe, looks like you’ve made some progress?”
“M-Mount Tai Pressure Peak…!”
“How is it? Do you feel a surge of power?”
“…I think I feel something surging somewhere else.”
As Seo-jun scratched his cheek awkwardly, Chun-bong threw a fit.
“G-Get that off him! What kind of shameless behavior is this?!”
“Should I do it to you too, Geum Mae?”
“N-No way…!”
While pinning Seo-jun down with her Mount Tai Pressure Peak, Namgung Su-ah spoke with a serene expression.
“Mmm… Anyway, I’m glad the effects are good. Once I take it and boost my Essence, my Qi and Spirit will naturally follow. Maybe I really will reach the Super Peak Realm in no time…”
“Exactly.”
Seo-jun nodded.
It was a makeshift method for breaking through the Life-Death Barrier. He had named it the Life and Death Breakthrough Art. With just a little more refinement, it would be ready for use. It wouldn't be long before the Namgung Clan gained two new masters in the Super Peak Realm.
“Hey, but what’s up with your eyes?”
At Chun-bong’s question, Seo-jun tilted his head.
“What about them?”
“They’re red.”
“Really? Maybe I’m tired?”
“No, your pupils are red.”
“What?”
Seo-jun drew the sword at his waist to check his reflection in the blade. Sure enough, a faint red energy was swirling within his black pupils.
When he stared intently at Namgung Su-ah with those eyes, her cheeks flushed slightly, lost in whatever she was thinking about.
“…It’s Taiji.”
“Huh?”
“Red and blue. Yes, Taiji. Hehe…”
Her blue eyes, visible through narrowed lids, glinted mischievously. Smiling until her eyes crinkled into half-moons, Namgung Su-ah whispered.
“Want to practice some Yin-Yang Union with your big sister?”
“Eek-gyaaaak!”
Chun-bong, who had just regained her composure, threw another fit.
“Sister, get out!”
“Oh, come on.”
“How can a direct descendant of the Namgung Clan have such a lack of modesty?!”
“But Seo-jun is my husband, isn’t he?”
“What…”
Chun-bong froze. Seo-jun froze along with her.
Come to think of it…
They had agreed it was just an act, but wasn't it basically a settled fact by now?
“…D-Darling?”
“You son of a bitch!”
“Gah…!”
Chun-bong launched a flying dropkick. Seo-jun took the hit squarely and collapsed.
He proceeded to get beaten up for quite a while after that.
* * *
It seemed the Heaven-Man Divine Elixirs for Chun-bong and Namgung Su-ah would be ready in a few days.
After skillfully coaxing a very grumpy Chun-bong to sleep, Seo-jun climbed onto the roof.
Night had fallen before he knew it. As he stared up at the starry sky, inspiration flooded his mind, just as it always did. He spent a moment organizing his somewhat cluttered thoughts, then lay back against the tiles, tracing the faint threads of enlightenment weaving through his mind.
The Transcendent Realm…
He had sprinted forward at an absurd speed, reaching the threshold of the late stage of the Super Peak Realm. However, he had missed quite a few foundational pieces along the way, and he needed to fill in those gaps little by little.
Of course, if he just wanted to blindly raise his cultivation level, he wouldn't need to bother… but Seo-jun was envisioning a goal much further ahead.
The Transcendent Realm. And the Extreme Demon Realm.
The reason they had different names despite representing similar levels of power was that there was a fundamental difference between them. Up to the Super Peak Realm, there wasn't a massive difference between practicing orthodox or demonic arts. But beyond that point, the paths drastically diverged.
The Orthodox and the Demonic. And the Unorthodox path squeezed right in between.
If he had to choose one, the Extreme Demon path seemed more convenient. But did he really have to choose?
The entire reason he had created the Heavenly Demon Divine Pill was to forge a middle ground. A state between the Transcendent Realm and the Extreme Demon Realm. The name would be…
Creation Extreme Demon Realm? Is that a bit weird?
After agonizing over it for a moment, Seo-jun eventually brushed the thought away. It was a bit too early to be worrying about the name.
Instead, he pivoted to something more immediate. A fitting idea had just come to mind. While crafting an elixir perfectly suited for his own body, a thought had occurred to him.
What if I created a martial art specifically for just one person, like the Heavenly Demon Divine Pill?
The only person he could currently do that for was Chun-bong. Because Seo-jun knew her body even better than she did.
Chun-bong’s Divine Art, surpassing the New Azure Cloud Divine Art…!
Chuckling to himself, Seo-jun drafted the outline of Chun-bong’s Divine Art and etched it into his mind. He felt that if he just added a few more flashes of inspiration and refined it bit by bit, he could complete the initial version in the near future.
“Not bad.”
Satisfied, Seo-jun stood up, brushed himself off, and slipped back into the room, humming a tune.
He found Chun-bong fast asleep, having kicked off her blankets to sprawl out in a giant 'X' shape.
“This brat…!”
He crept closer and poked her cheek.
“Mmmph…”
Chun-bong waved her hand blindly, scratching at her cheek. Seo-jun smirked and gave her nose a firm squeeze.
“Snort…!”
Chun-bong’s nose twitched, and she rubbed it with her hand.
I can dominate Geum Chun-bong…!
After dedicating a solid amount of time to teasing the sleeping Geum Chun-bong, Seo-jun carefully lay down beside her, timing it perfectly before she could completely wake up.
“Hehe…”
Chun-bong snuggled into his arms with a silly grin. She was warm.
Seo-jun closed his eyes.
Deep sleep.
He fell into a profound slumber.
* * *
Corpses and blood.
Standing atop a mountain of piled flesh, Seo-jun looked up at the sky.
His foot happened to catch on a severed head. He picked it up to examine the face, finding it strangely familiar. A man whose name he didn't know. Was he from the Black Lotus Union? It was a guy Seo-jun had run into—and killed—on the way to Mount Hua.
Curious, he rummaged through the corpses.
A familiar face. Another familiar face. This one too.
A martial artist who had reached the Super Peak Realm remembered the faces of everyone they passed, even if only for a brief moment.
I’ve killed a lot.
Buried among the bodies as he rummaged through them, Seo-jun scratched his head.
So, what kind of weird dream was this? It wasn't like he felt particularly guilty about his kills, so having such a morbid dream without any specific trigger was odd…
Focusing his mind while keeping his eyes closed, he snapped out of the dream instantly.
“Mmm…”
Judging by the lack of light filtering through his eyelids, it was still the middle of the night or early dawn. Perhaps because of the strange dream, the heavy scent of blood seemed to linger at the tip of his nose.
Wait, am I actually smelling it?
Sniff, sniff. Seo-jun’s nose twitched, sensitively distinguishing the scents in the room.
His heightened senses, particularly attuned to the metallic tang of blood, quickly confirmed it. This wasn't lingering dream-scent; it was real blood.
But then again, the Namgung Clan estate occasionally smelled of blood. It wasn't uncommon for martial artists to get injured during their rigorous training.
However, as he followed that idle train of thought, a question suddenly arose.
Training at this time of night?
That didn't seem likely.
Even as he lay there with his eyes closed, the metallic stench continued to bother him. It was especially annoying because it felt like the smell was coming from right next to him.
The only person next to him was Chun-bong, and there was no way she’d be reeking of blood.
Right. Only Chun-bong.
Seo-jun, who had been smacking his lips in a half-asleep daze, suddenly snapped his eyes open.
“Chun-bong!”
The smell of blood. Chun-bong. His mind raced, heating up in an instant.
Seo-jun’s eyes glowed a faint red in the darkness. His gaze pierced through the gloom, locking onto Chun-bong.
“Mmmph…”
Chun-bong was mumbling in her sleep, chewing on nothing as if she were eating. But the scent of blood was definitely radiating from her.
“Hey, hey! Wake up! Chun-bong! Hey! Geum Hee!”
“Hwah…?! What, what is it?! An ambush?!”
“Hey! Are you okay?”
“What’s with you all of a sudden?!”
Having been hoisted into the air straight out of her sleep, Chun-bong flailed her limbs with a dazed, panicked look.
Seo-jun’s eyes instantly scanned her entire body. The kid seemed perfectly fine, so why did she smell like blood?
Relieved that she wasn't missing a limb, Seo-jun began patting down Chun-bong’s body to check for hidden wounds. Chun-bong, who was about to throw a massive fit, paused and asked cautiously upon seeing Seo-jun’s unusually serious expression.
“What’s wrong…?”
“I smell blood.”
“Blood? From where? From my body?”
“Yeah.”
Sniff, sniff. Seo-jun’s nose twitched, tracking the source of the metallic scent.
The place he arrived at was…
“You little—!”
“Gah…!”
Seo-jun’s body went flying, taking Chun-bong’s roundhouse kick squarely to the face.
Chun-bong hurriedly curled into a ball. Her face was bright red. She was completely flustered and frantic, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.
Wrapping her arms tightly around herself, she shrieked.
“Get out right now!”
“Wait, this is my room…”
“Just get out, you jerk! Now! Please…!”
Finally realizing the situation, Seo-jun scratched his head awkwardly and stepped out of the room. As his racing heart calmed down, an involuntary smirk leaked out.
Unable to help himself, Seo-jun poked his head back through the door and grinned.
“Are we having red bean rice tomorrow?”
“Eek-gyaaaak!!”
He got beaten up. Really, really hard.