Chapter 109
Chapter 109
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 31
>Chapter Title: Fortuitous Encounter (1)
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The body of the fallen Mok Kyung-un was crumbling away like tree bark.
And from within that crumbling shell,
-Squelch!
Glossy new skin was emerging.
Cheong-ryeong, watching this, muttered in barely contained excitement.
-......Marrow cleansing and bone transformation.
Marrow cleansing and bone transformation (換骨奪胎).
It meant exactly that—replacing the bones and shedding the fetal sac.
It was a phenomenon where the body underwent a drastic change corresponding to an enlightenment achieved, something utterly bizarre.
‘To think something possible only at the Flower Realm is happening.’
Normally, marrow cleansing and bone transformation required enlightenment at the wall—the end of the Superlative Realm—leading to the Three Flowers Gathering at the Summit and the Five Qi Returning to Origin.
Through these two enlightenments, the Ren and Du Meridians would be fully opened, allowing one to handle qi incomparable to the Superlative Realm. To accommodate this, the body would rapidly rebuild itself.
‘Ha......’
Yet Mok Kyung-un had not surpassed the wall.
He had merely absorbed the yokai qi of the tanuki spirit beast that called itself the lord of self-immolation.
Yet to handle that energy, marrow cleansing and bone transformation was occurring.
‘Bizarre. Utterly bizarre.’
How could such a body exist?
It was rebuilding itself to contain yokai qi without even surpassing the wall.
She couldn’t help but click her tongue in astonishment.
‘......Different.’
This guy’s growth process was completely off the normal path for martial artists.
It made sense, though. From the start, he hadn’t built internal energy in his dantian but rather death qi, and even that he controlled through reverse circulation.
Perhaps diverging from the norm was only natural.
‘I might be witnessing the birth of an expert in a form entirely different from the murim I’ve known until now.’
Such thoughts made a chuckle escape her lips unbidden.
What if she had taken him as a disciple while alive, not dead?
But if she had survived this long, she’d be a wrinkled old hag.
-Shatter!
As the dead skin fully peeled away, Mok Kyung-un rose to his feet.
Bits of skin powder fluttered down.
“Ah......”
His entire body felt light.
He sensed his energy not just full but overflowing beyond limits.
Just moments ago, his insides had felt like they were being scorched by fire, but the pain was gone.
Even his broken bones seemed fully mended, with no issues in his movements.
‘Got lucky, huh.’
This time, he had braced himself for possible death.
But fortunately, unlike that resolve, a fortuitous encounter had come, and he had grown even stronger instead.
‘Stronger......’
Truly wondrous.
A spirit beast sealed for thousands of years and weakened.
Yet absorbing its power alone had caused his energy to explode like this.
At this level, even peak Superlative Realm experts wouldn’t be an issue.
Mok Kyung-un suddenly recalled Jo Ui-gong’s words.
[You heard there’s no one?]
[Yes.]
[I don’t know who told you, but it’s not entirely impossible.]
[Not impossible?]
[Indeed. I didn’t believe it at first either. But it’s real. Among the sorcerers bestowed the title of gods, two have subjugated spirit beasts and made them familiars.]
[Two?]
[Yes, two. Astonishing, isn’t it? Ah, just in case—don’t even think about it. They’re beings beyond the heavens. One of them isn’t even human... Anyway, spirit beasts transcend what humans can handle. They’re calamities incarnate.]
Jo Ui-gong had said it.
Among the Six Divine Sorcerers, hailed as the pinnacle of sorcerers, two had spirit beasts as familiars.
Remembering this, he felt he still had a long way to go.
He couldn’t even handle a weakened spirit beast sealed for ages.
Good thing the seal’s power lingered; otherwise, he’d have breathed his last here.
‘That aside, what was that thing it said?’
He remembered the monstrous tanuki spirit beast’s words after emerging from his body.
[What in your body is that?]
What did it mean, something in me?
Mok Kyung-un felt puzzled.
Come to think of it, most of the resentful spirits that tried possessing him had reacted with shock upon discovering something.
What could it be that even a spirit beast would say such a thing?
Doubt gnawed at him.
Then—
-Mortal......
Mok Kyung-un looked at Cheong-ryeong.
“Huh?”
He frowned at her increasingly faint form.
She had grown even more transparent since grabbing and pulling his wrist, and it was worsening.
“Cheong-ryeong?”
-Marrow...... cleansing...... bone...... transformation...... How fascinating.
“What?”
-You’ve trained in martial arts for...... barely any time...... yet entering the Superlative Realm...... and rebuilding your body through marrow cleansing......
“......”
-With this momentum...... truly...... as I boldly claimed...... within two years...... the Flower Realm...... might not be...... impossible.
“Cheong-ryeong...... your spiritual energy has weakened a lot.”
-Trying to save a wretch like you...... got me like this.
“......”
-I didn’t do it...... expecting thanks...... No need...... for pity.
She spoke with labored effort, as if reciting her last words.
Mok Kyung-un could clearly see it.
Her spiritual energy, blazing like a fierce flame, was shrinking like a dying candle.
He asked her incredulously.
“Didn’t I tell you not to come in? Why did you?”
-......If you die...... we all die anyway...... What was I supposed to do?
Cheong-ryeong hesitated briefly before answering.
Mok Kyung-un stared intently at her face.
She spoke in a burdened tone.
-Why stare...... so intently? Don’t tell me...... you’re sad...... that this lord is fading?
“Fading...... you mean vanishing?”
-......Yes. This lord has no hope left.
Cheong-ryeong had somewhat realized it.
Her spiritual energy had waned to the point she could no longer sustain her spirit body.
It had been vast enough to persist as a resentful spirit for a century, yet she had lost most of it. How could any remain?
-Mortal...... With your personality...... you won’t grieve...... over one familiar dying...... so grant me...... one request.
“......”
-I want nothing else...... just the Heaven-Earth Society......
-Snap!
Before Cheong-ryeong could finish,
Mok Kyung-un grabbed her hand.
And said,
“Let’s talk about that after you recover.”
-What?
-Whoooosh!
No sooner had she questioned than a vast energy surged from Mok Kyung-un’s hand.
It was utterly different from her spiritual energy.
‘Yokai qi?’
Indeed.
It was the yokai qi Mok Kyung-un had seized from the tanuki spirit beast.
Even after rebuilding his body and refining it with his dantian’s death qi, he had absorbed more than enough.
As the yokai qi flooded in, her eyes trembled.
‘What is this?’
Something bizarre occurred.
Unlike the soul-devouring imae-mangryang, resentful spirits couldn’t accept or absorb yokai qi from higher entities.
Yet yokai qi poured in through Mok Kyung-un’s palm.
And it filled her entire body.
‘Ahhh!’
Her fading spirit body grew denser.
Then, incredibly quickly, it returned to its normal state.
But it didn’t end there.
-Roooar!
-Mortal...... wait...... you......
“Focus.”
The influx of yokai qi surpassed the level of her original spiritual energy.
‘This guy......’
Despite being a spirit body, she assumed a cross-legged position.
Like in life, she circulated as if meditating, focusing on assimilating the incoming energy.
-Incredible......
Gyu So-ha, the Green Spirit watching from beyond the red line, widened her eyes.
Gyu So-ha’s ghost eyes saw it clearly.
Cheong-ryeong’s spiritual energy was rapidly amplifying, surpassing its original limits and rising in rank.
And soon, it truly manifested.
-Shaaa!
Chilling energy rippled around Cheong-ryeong.
-Rumble!
The bookshelves around the cavern shook violently.
As her rank elevated further, her spiritual energy affected even the physical world.
Cheong-ryeong opened her closed eyes.
-Swish!
Intense blood-red eyes that instilled even greater intimidation.
“Ah......”
She let out a gasp, sensing her own elevated rank.
Mok Kyung-un released her hand and said,
“You got lucky too, huh.”
-......What did you do? It could have been dangerous.
“But it worked out. Better than vanishing, right?”
-You wretch......
She couldn’t continue.
She had braced for oblivion, yet her rank as a resentful spirit had risen.
Truly ironic.
To such a Cheong-ryeong, Mok Kyung-un said,
“If my eyes aren’t deceiving me, your rank has risen. Should I call you Nam-ryeong now?”
Nam-ryeong (藍靈).
The Yin-Yang House Scripture states:
Resentful spirits existing over three hundred years.
Surpassing hallucinations and auditory illusions, their spiritual power materializes, becoming calamitous entities rivaling high imae-mangryang like demonic beasts.
Exorcising one requires at least a hundred sorcerers, though success is uncertain.
‘Another fortuitous encounter, I suppose.’
Mok Kyung-un’s familiar bond with Cheong-ryeong remained.
Her elevation to Nam-ryeong rank bolstered his forces considerably.
Then Cheong-ryeong spoke.
-......Enough. Just call me Cheong-ryeong.
“Huh?”
-Changing back and forth would just confuse things. Stick with Cheong-ryeong.
She turned her head away curtly.
Seeing this, Mok Kyung-un smirked and said,
“Is it because you like the name Cheong-ryeong?”
-What nonsense are you spouting?
Cheong-ryeong glared and snorted.
Mok Kyung-un shrugged as if to say only he’d get it.
Then a voice came.
-Master......
There stood Gyu So-ha, the Green Spirit, her arms severed, half-transparent, eyes teary.
Seeing her, Cheong-ryeong narrowed her eyes, sighed, and said,
-......Any yokai qi left over?
* * *
“I’ll be waiting, so please come pick me up.”
As Mok Kyung-un prepared to pass through the formation at the entrance, Unit Leader Yang Mu-won earnestly implored.
His changed tone revealed Gyu So-ha’s possession.
Having witnessed something, Yang Mu-won couldn’t be left alone, so this measure was taken.
Yet while saying to come pick him up, Gyu So-ha’s expression beamed brightly.
-So thrilled. Absolutely thrilled.
“It happens.”
And rightly so—Mok Kyung-un’s leftover yokai qi had elevated Gyu So-ha, astonishingly, from Green Spirit to Blue Spirit rank.
She had been close before, but the pure yokai qi properly triggered the ascension.
Anyway, leaving the cavern via the entrance formation, Mok Kyung-un descended the cliff.
There, Senior Warrior Gwak Mun-gi leaned against the cliff, waiting with a bored face.
Then—
-Tap tap!
Someone poked his back. He startled, leaped back, and assumed a guard stance.
“Huh? You?”
“Did I keep you waiting long?”
Mok Kyung-un asked with a grin.
Gwak Mun-gi’s face stiffened at the sight.
‘What the......’
Though Mok Kyung-un qualified as provisional unit leader, his energy had felt merely first-rate, a step below.
But what was this?
‘......I can’t sense it.’
Mok Kyung-un’s energy right before him was nearly undetectable.
Presence and qi sense both hazy.
Right in front, yet what sorcery was this?
Had he truly gained some enlightenment as the reports said?
[Chapter 31: Fortuitous Encounter (1)] End