Chapter 101: Ice Wheel
Chapter 101
Ice Wheel
The Golden Threads of Heavenly Net pierced through the air and instantly entered the Mystical Forge.
Whoosh!
Even though the Spirit Flame, which had melted even the Dongchaeryun, was still burning fiercely, the threads advanced without hesitation.
Finally, the violently roaring flames and the golden threads collided—
Sssss!
Surprisingly, the threads remained completely unharmed within the blaze of the Spirit Flame.
Not a single strand melted, nor was there even the slightest damage to them.
'Adjusting this much is child's play.'
It was thanks to Se-woon having already lowered the temperature of the Spirit Flame beforehand.
His ability to control the Spirit Flame with his Golden Arm Technique had reached its peak.
The golden threads, piercing through the Spirit Flame, continued forward until they finally reached their destination.
The molten metal from the melted Dongchaeryun, still radiating a brilliant silver light, remained intact.
Half of the molten metal, left after forging hundreds of blades.
To Se-woon, it looked like mouthwatering prey.
'I got lucky.'
In truth, before his regression, the Blood Cult had only given him half of the Dongchaeryun.
The other half had been taken by Qilian Demon, one of the Blood Cult's Ten Elders and master of the Jiangshi, who claimed he needed it to create Ghost Yin Jiangshi.
But this time, Se-woon had retrieved the Dongchaeryun long before the Blood Cult could even gather information about it.
'Even after giving hundreds of blades to Noona, there's still plenty left for me.'
Now, it was time to begin.
As Se-woon clenched both fists, the golden threads surged into the molten metal without hesitation.
Tsssss!
The threads plunged into the silver waves—
Whoooosh!
"......!!"
In an instant, the extreme Yin energy contained within the Dongchaeryun began rapidly draining into Se-woon through the threads.
Crackle!
Even within the Spirit Flame's blaze, frost formed along the golden threads.
At that moment, a strange thought crossed Se-woon's mind.
'......Was the Dongchaeryun's cold energy always this vicious?'
No matter how much he thought about it, the answer was no.
Compared to when he had absorbed it before his regression, the Yin energy felt two, no—three times more intense.
The sensation in his hands, connected to the golden threads, had dulled so much from the cold that he could barely feel them.
Enduring the pain as if his skin were being torn apart, Se-woon silently speculated about the reason.
The state of the Dongchaeryun he had checked earlier was identical to before his regression.
The only variable that had changed was Se-woon himself.
Which meant, ultimately...
'I must have now met the qualifications to draw out its true, hidden Yin energy.'
The powers that had once remained dormant, refusing to react before choosing to dissipate, were now seeping into his embrace.
That was the most plausible conclusion Se-woon could reach at this moment.
Whoooosh!
Hummmm!
The golden threads resonated. The extreme cold grew even more intense.
Though the pain deepened, Se-woon's heart pounded with exhilaration instead.
Before his regression, the Water White Fan had already possessed enough Yin-Cold Energy to make it snow in the Great Desert for the first and last time.
But now, he was gaining an even more formidable energy.
Just how astonishing a feat would he be able to achieve this time? It was impossible not to be excited.
Whoooosh!
Ssssshhh!
And finally—
The frost covering the golden threads vanished completely, their color shifting from pitch-black to pure white.
Despite the unusual transformation, the cold energy radiating outward had visibly diminished—but that didn't mean its power had weakened.
It was proof that all the cold energy had now seeped into the threads themselves, perfectly controlled by Se-woon's will.
Though it looked flawless, Se-woon had no intention of skipping the final inspection.
'Alright, then.'
Even if it meant risking the power he had gained, he would test its limits to perfection.
With that resolve, Se-woon unleashed his Golden Arm Technique at full strength—
Fwoooosh!
CRACK!
The Spirit Flame inside the Mystical Forge erupted violently.
He had raised the temperature to its maximum, ensuring the golden threads wouldn't be damaged.
No—strictly speaking, it wasn't just the maximum.
'More. More. MORE.'
Huuuummm!
CRRRACKLE!
It was practically berserk.
He mercilessly intensified the heat until even the forge's spell formations risked exploding.
Had the cold energy not been fully absorbed, he might have lost his primary weapon, the golden threads—but Se-woon's gaze didn't waver in the slightest.
'If it's not in perfect condition, I won't last against the Blood Demon.'
Unless he staked his life on everything, he could never face that monster.
Just as Se-woon was enduring the forge's sun-like heat alone—
Whoooosh!
Ssshhh!
"......!!"
A radiant light burst from the golden threads, unleashing Yin energy that surpassed all limits.
Simultaneously, the Spirit Flame within the Mystical Forge rapidly returned to its original state.
Astoundingly, it was now emitting power comparable to the Spirit Flame at its peak intensity.
'This means—'
A glint flashed in Se-woon's eyes.
It was the moment his little finger's Ice Wheel Threads unfolded—far surpassing their power from before his regression.
The extreme heat and cold that had filled the forge vanished without a trace, replaced by the tranquility of spring.
It was because the Spirit Flame and the Ice Wheel Threads had achieved perfect balance.
Then, as Se-woon withdrew all his energy at once—
Whoooosh!
Ssshh.
As if nothing had happened, silence settled over the forge.
"Done."
Smirk.
Only then did a meaningful smile appear on Se-woon's face.
Even after pushing the Ice Wheel Threads beyond their limits, there wasn't the slightest backlash in his meridians or body.
It meant he had succeeded in perfect control.
'No Yin-Cold Energy can harm me now.'
From this point on, any cold or Yin energy that assailed him would instead become nourishment—fortifying and invigorating him like a divine elixir.
Lost in the exhilaration of achieving something even his past self couldn't—
Ssss.
In that fleeting moment of distraction, an insignificant, almost imperceptible change occurred inside the Mystical Forge.
Having been drained of all its energy by Se-woon, the molten metal from the Dongchaeryun had lost its silver glow, now radiating an ordinary light.
But hidden within it, silently submerged—
Sss.
A single drop of an unknown energy slipped into the golden threads as they returned to their master.
Orthodox-Unorthodox-Demon.
A colorless energy, belonging to none of the three realms—featureless, unidentifiable.
Plink.
In the end, it flowed naturally and imperceptibly into Se-woon's meridians through the golden threads.
'Hm?'
A faint sense of incongruity, fleeting as a split-second.
Se-woon immediately began inspecting himself, but soon, a puzzled expression surfaced.
'What was that?'
No matter how meticulously he searched, he found no trace of any foreign energy or abnormality.
Still, he checked once more—but again, nothing.
Maybe it was just his imagination.
With that thought, Se-woon moved on to the next step.
But what he didn't know was—
This single drop of energy would become the catalyst for an upheaval far greater than he could imagine.
"Now, then—"
Despite the immense energy and mental strain from forging a Divine Artifact, Se-woon kept his focus sharp.
After obtaining the Tracking Technique and the Ice Wheel Threads, he had completed two of the five spells engraved on the golden threads.
A growth speed incomparable to before his regression.
But today, Se-woon had no intention of stopping here.
"Time to unlock the third spell."
Following the ring finger and little finger—next was the index finger.
And the material for it was already resting in his possession.
"What do you regret the most?"
Before his regression, during their training together, Muming had asked Se-woon this question.
Caught off guard, Se-woon had replied in confusion.
"Regret?"
"You've already mastered eight demonic arts and spells as a master of the Ten Great Demon Arms."
"......"
"Out of those, there must be at least one where you thought—'Damn it! I should've picked something else!'"
A bitter expression had crossed Se-woon's face.
Though he had always deliberated carefully and made the best choices, they hadn't always led to the best outcomes.
After all, Poison Demon Yayul Seung's martial arts had ultimately become useless once the Blood Demon achieved immunity to all poisons.
But since he had no choice but to learn Dokma's arts to save his clan, the first thing that came to mind in response to Muming's question was—
"......Probably the Wave-Sound Pipa Demon."
Wave-Sound Pipa Demon.
One of the Blood Cult's Ten Elders and the leader of the Blood Sound Sect.
Uniquely, his primary weapon was a pipa—an instrument—making him the undisputed master of Sound Arts in the martial world.
Se-woon had handed him the Blood-Tear Pipa, an inferior version of the golden threads, one of the Ten Great Demon Arms.
'And in return, I gained the Phantom Sound Threads for my index finger.'
The Blood-Tear Pipa was the fifth of the Ten Great Demon Arms Se-woon had created.
Unlike the other demons, whom he had chosen after long deliberation, his selection of the Wave-Sound Pipa Demon had been unavoidable due to circumstances at the time.
'The number of people tailing me and the spies watching me had skyrocketed.'
Around then, suspicions about Se-woon's strange behavior and motives had begun spreading among the Blood Cult's demons and factions.
Under the pressure of potentially being exposed before he could exact proper revenge on the Blood Demon, he had chosen the Wave-Sound Pipa Demon and the Phantom Sound Threads.
The Wave-Sound Pipa Demon's ultimate technique, the Soul-Returning Finger-Sound Song, had the advantage of allowing a single person to face countless enemies—but Se-woon had chosen it for other, supplementary reasons.
It could erase his own sounds or silence his targets, making it useful for stealth missions or assassinations.
Against weaker foes, he could inject them with melodies that muddled their minds and shattered their memories.
But none of this had been of any use in his battle against the Blood Demon.
'......Because the first thing that monster transcended was the five senses of the flesh.'
But now, the situation was entirely different.
The pursuers and spies tailing him would be cleanly dealt with by Muming without him needing to lift a finger.
Which was why Se-woon planned to alter the power of his index finger in a completely new direction.
Swish!
Swish!
At that moment, Se-woon unfurled the golden threads in the air.
With the Ice Wheel Threads' energy now depleted, their color had reverted from white to pitch-black.
Flick.
Then, Se-woon retrieved an object from his pocket.
Whoooosh.
A small jewel revealed itself.
Surprisingly, the jewel emitted a presence both as serene as a lake and as vast as an ocean simultaneously.
The identity of this jewel was—
'Now, I shall obtain a new demon-subduing power.'
The sariras left behind by the Divine Doctor, the Venerable Monk Gongseong.
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