Chapter 240
Chapter 240
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 66
>Chapter Title: Innate True Energy (2)
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“Zhongsheng. It seems this fellow... has mastered the breathing methods of the Sages.”
“The Sages’ breathing methods?”
Cheongryeong spoke to the puzzled Mok Kyung-un.
“Do you remember me telling you that heart methods and divine arts’ qi circulation techniques originated from the ancient Daoist breathing methods?”
“Ah... yes.”
“It’s said that in ancient times, Daoists and Sages who had accumulated deep cultivation practiced breathing techniques to bolster their primordial qi for longevity and ascension.”
“Not just internal energy, but bolstering the primordial qi itself? Isn’t primordial qi the innate life force one is born with?”
“Exactly. The vital energy of life is predetermined primordial qi from the start. That’s why in ancient times, it was called innate true energy.”
Innate true energy.
It was the pure innate true essence humans possessed from birth.
In this regard, things like internal energy, which were cultivated postnatally, were once called postnatal true energy.
“Amazing. I’d heard that even Daoism had long lost the lineage of the Sages’ breathing methods—no, the methods to cultivate innate true energy.”
“So this guy cultivated that lost innate true energy?”
“The only energy that can completely oppose the death energy of the dead is that one.”
At Cheongryeong’s words, a glint appeared in Mok Kyung-un’s eyes.
Innate true energy, completely opposite to death energy.
That must have been why he’d felt an inexplicable aversion from the first moment he saw him.
Cheongryeong warned Mok Kyung-un.
“Be careful. Even if it’s faint, if it completely opposes yours, Zhongsheng, it could be extremely lethal to you...”
But the warning didn’t even finish.
The hot energy surging from Joo Woonhyang’s middle dantian suddenly rebounded with tremendous force.
Mok Kyung-un’s palm, pressed against his chest, was flung back.
Joo Woonhyang didn’t miss that instant and unleashed a palm strike loaded with innate true energy toward Mok Kyung-un’s dantian.
-Paaang!
Mok Kyung-un’s body bent backward like a shrimp after taking the blow to his abdomen.
‘Good...!’
It wasn’t from the impact.
The moment the palm hit his abdomen, he had redirected it using the Plum Blossom Grafting technique.
-Kwajijijik!
Innate true energy flowed out through Mok Kyung-un’s soles, cracking the stone floor.
Seeing this, Joo Woonhyang clicked his tongue in amazement.
He hadn’t expected someone to so easily deflect a surprise palm strike at this range.
But this palm wasn’t the real attack.
Joo Woonhyang unleashed the Reverse Coiling True Scripture he’d prepared with his other hand, aiming for Mok Kyung-un’s heart.
“Another one of those techniques.”
It was probably the most powerful among the techniques Joo Woonhyang knew.
However, showing the same technique multiple times was his mistake.
From Mok Kyung-un’s perspective, it was like being kindly taught.
-Swaaaarrr!
At that moment, death energy began to coil in reverse and condense in Mok Kyung-un’s palm.
Sensing this, Joo Woonhyang’s eyes widened.
‘No way?’
But then, their palms collided.
-Paaaaang!
At the same time, powerful gusts of wind erupted around them, cracking the floor.
The moment of clash was nearly evenly matched in power.
Joo Woonhyang was inwardly shocked.
‘How is this possible?’
The Reverse Coiling True Scripture was an extremely profound supreme art.
It wasn’t the kind one could learn just by watching; it required enlightenment into the profound principles embedded in its forms.
Yet seeing him replicate it perfectly, Joo Woonhyang couldn’t help but be astonished.
-Paarrr!
The reverse-coiling power was evenly matched, if only for an instant.
Their energies were completely opposing, which made it even more so.
However, no matter how opposing the energies, a difference in power inevitably existed.
‘I’m... being pushed back.’
Joo Woonhyang’s pupils trembled.
As Mok Kyung-un drew up even more death energy soon after,
-Paang!
Joo Woonhyang’s form was flung backward.
He flew several dozen feet, tumbling across the ground several times before stopping.
“Urk.”
Seriously injured, Joo Woonhyang vomited a handful of black blood.
‘A monster... of a guy...’
He collapsed powerlessly.
This was a first for such a monster.
From his realm to his energy, everything was on a different level, making him an opponent impossible to handle with tricks.
“Cough, cough...”
Coughing up blood, Joo Woonhyang staggered to his feet.
His legs trembled.
In his current injured state, even escaping was impossible.
Joo Woonhyang looked up at Mok Kyung-un.
And he was stunned.
‘Just a scratch?’
He could barely move due to his internal injuries, yet Mok Kyung-un only had a small scratch on his palm.
Then, Mok Kyung-un, staring intently at the wound on his palm, spoke.
“That power of yours. It seems quite troublesome.”
“What?”
“I mean the innate true energy.”
‘!?’
At those words, Joo Woonhyang’s eyes widened.
How did this guy recognize innate true energy?
Innate true energy followed a different path from ordinary internal energy that could be cultivated postnatally; it wasn’t the kind detectable by qi sense.
Joo Woonhyang asked in a newly serious tone.
“You... what the hell are you?”
“Who knows. You don’t need to know that, but it’s bothering me.”
“Bothering you?”
“Considering the future, I’m wondering if it’d be better to kill you now.”
“What?”
As soon as the words ended, he stepped toward Joo Woonhyang.
It seemed he intended to act on it immediately.
Even as he approached slowly, Joo Woonhyang couldn’t steady himself due to his injuries.
-Thud, thud!
The sound of Mok Kyung-un’s footsteps, his sword finger brimming with murderous intent, echoed like the signal of a death god opening the gates of hell.
And that signal quickened.
Mok Kyung-un shot forward, aiming to sever Joo Woonhyang’s neck in one breath.
Unable to dodge, Joo Woonhyang stared piercingly at Mok Kyung-un swinging his sword finger with hollow eyes.
At that moment,
-Pak!
Mok Kyung-un’s sword finger, about to slice his neck, stopped just short of the skin.
-Drip!
But the sword intent lingering on it sliced the skin, blood trickling down.
Joo Woonhyang asked, puzzled.
“Why did you stop?”
“You’re unusual.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re the first person I’ve seen make that expression before their neck is severed.”
“What expression? What are you getting at?”
“Usually, they’re either terrified out of their minds or glaring in rage. Of course, they all commonly squeeze their eyes shut right before death.”
“......”
“But you’re staring right at me even as your neck is about to be cut. With a look of utter resignation, no less.”
This was a first for Mok Kyung-un.
He’d thought everyone became the same before death, but Joo Woonhyang was different.
There was no fear of death itself, no resentment toward him.
Just eyes full of regret over something.
Mok Kyung-un asked.
“I’m curious what made you wear that face.”
“......”
At the question, Joo Woonhyang furrowed his brow.
What the hell is this guy?
He couldn’t read his thoughts at all.
He’d suddenly tried to kill him, then stopped for some bizarre reason.
“......Even if I told you the reason, it doesn’t seem like you’d let me live, so why should I?”
“Who knows. Maybe I’ll get whimsical?”
“Whimsical?”
“Yes. Your innate true energy is quite irritating to me, but we don’t really have any grudge between us.”
“Then you didn’t need to attack me in the first place.”
Joo Woonhyang said with an incredulous expression.
Mok Kyung-un smiled faintly in response.
“If it offended you, I apologize. But isn’t it more efficient to preemptively kill anything that could potentially threaten you even a little?”
“Ha!”
Joo Woonhyang stuck out his tongue in disbelief.
This guy’s way of thinking felt vastly different from ordinary people.
No, completely different.
‘He doesn’t even seem human.’
He didn’t know why.
From the moment he first sensed this guy’s vicious energy to this very conversation, he felt a bizarre sensation as if facing a being beyond humanity.
‘What the hell is this guy’s true nature?’
Just calling him a later-generation disciple of the Heaven-Earth Society didn’t explain it.
Staring intently at Mok Kyung-un, Joo Woonhyang finally spoke.
“I can’t fully agree with your extreme mindset... but I did have a similar thought.”
“A similar thought?”
“Yeah. That cold, vicious energy of yours... I thought if you became an enemy, I’d have to kill you without fail, or absolutely avoid interfering.”
Joo Woonhyang had felt strong wariness and absolute pressure from the ferocious, evil energy Mok Kyung-un displayed when crushing the Boundary Stone Slate.
That’s why, for a fleeting moment, he’d thought that if there was any chance of him becoming an enemy—not to Mok Kyung-un’s extent, but still—he might have to kill him unconditionally.
‘Damn. What am I even saying?’
With a blade at his throat, he was spouting nonsense.
But Mok Kyung-un chuckled and said.
“What a coincidence. We had the same thought.”
“In a way.”
“Do you still think the same now?”
“......A meaningless question. The power of life and death is in your hands anyway.”
“You never know.”
“......I don’t know if you’re toying with me, but after experiencing you, I absolutely don’t want you as an enemy. If I had no choice but to make you one, I’d use any means to desperately kill you.”
“Honest, aren’t you?”
“No point in lying when I might die anyway.”
At his words, Mok Kyung-un’s lips curved up.
“A first for me.”
“What’s a first this time?”
“That irritating energy still bothers me, but I don’t really want to kill you anymore.”
“You don’t want to kill me?”
“Yes. It feels like a highly inefficient judgment, but I’m not that opposed to it.”
‘!?’
Joo Woonhyang frowned, unable to hide his bewilderment at Mok Kyung-un’s words.
Did this guy really get whimsical, just as he’d said?
Either way, if his mindset had changed, it was a chance to save his life.
Cautiously, Joo Woonhyang glanced at the sword finger and said.
“Then, can you put that away?”
“I haven’t heard your answer yet.”
“What answer? Ah!”
He was asking why he’d made that resigned expression when facing death.
What an odd guy.
Why did he want to know that?
Unable to understand but wanting to end this situation, he soon spoke.
“I just felt regret in that moment.”
“Regret?”
“......I’d finally resolved to change everything with my own hands, only to end up unable to do anything again.”
Mok Kyung-un looked at him with a strange gaze.
He was clearly around the same age as him.
Yet he spoke as if he’d seen through the vicissitudes of life.
That felt extremely peculiar.
Mok Kyung-un said to him.
“Now that I’ve heard your answer, even more...”
But before he could finish,
-Pak!
Joo Woonhyang’s figure vanished from in front of him.
‘!?’
Where did he go?
Mok Kyung-un scanned his surroundings, moving his eyes.
Then, from the right, something blurry charged at him with tremendous momentum.
Its speed was so incredible it was hard to discern with the naked eye.
There was no way to dodge it.
-Shuuuk! Papapapak!
Suddenly, something streaked past rapidly.
With it, strikes hit his major acupoints all over his body, sending him powerlessly soaring into the air.
-Paaaaak!
The force that struck his acupoints was so powerful that Mok Kyung-un spun several times midair before crashing to the ground.
-Thud!
“Urk.”
Mok Kyung-un’s expression hardened as he hit the floor.
The pain was one thing, but the energy penetrating his major acupoints kept his body from moving.
That energy was fiercely suppressing the death energy within him.
From this, Mok Kyung-un realized.
This was
‘Innate true energy...’
It was the same as Joo Woonhyang’s energy.
The difference was that it was vastly more profound and immense, incomparable to Joo Woonhyang’s.
Then, a cold voice rang in Mok Kyung-un’s ear.
“Disciple Mok Kyung-un. You truly are a dangerous existence.”
The owner of that voice was So Ye-rin, the Vice Six Divisions Commander overseeing the Golden Uniform Guard selection process.
Thanks to her, Mok Kyung-un realized his judgment had been correct.
When he first saw So Ye-rin, he’d felt a similar aversion for a split second, like with Joo Woonhyang.
Unlike Joo Woonhyang, she possessed internal energy, so the sensation had been faint, but as expected, she cultivated innate true energy.
-Kuduk! Kuduk!
The innate true energy that had invaded his body suppressed the death energy and tried to burrow into his five viscera and six bowels.
Mok Kyung-un exhaled deeply and shifted his energy.
-Goooooo!
At that moment, black energy surged from Mok Kyung-un’s body.
It was demonic energy, born from unifying all the energies he’d obtained so far, including death energy.
-Swaaaaa!
The moment his energy turned to demonic energy, the profound innate true energy that had pierced his acupoints was immediately pushed out, dissipating into the air like heat haze.
‘No?’
At this bizarre sight, So Ye-rin—the Vice Six Divisions Commander who thought she’d completely subdued Mok Kyung-un—felt her pupils faintly tremble.
[Chapter 66: Innate True Energy (2)] End