A Secret Training Ground and a Beast's Vow
Cheonhwa met with his maternal grandfather, Yi Sang-woo, and told him he needed a space to train in martial arts away from prying eyes.
“You mean something like a secret training hall?”
“Yes. Both So-ryong and Jin-hwa need their own personal training spaces where they can avoid the gaze of others.”
Yi Sang-woo nodded.
“If it’s a secret training hall, there is one that Hwarin used to use.”
“Mother did?”
“That’s right. There are stairs leading underground beneath the bed in the room you’re currently using, and a personal training hall lies below it.”
“Is there nowhere else? No matter what, I can’t just let So-ryong and Jin-hwa come and go from my room as they please. Besides, I’m sure they would feel uncomfortable as well.”
“I see. Then we should take this opportunity to build them their own training halls.”
“Build them?”
“Wouldn’t it work if we tore down the warehouse behind the inner courtyard and built the training halls there?”
Cheonhwa thought about the location of the warehouse.
“Won’t construction take a long time?”
“It will probably take at least three or four months. Digging up the ground and doing all sorts of things will require that much time.”
“Then I suppose we’ll have no choice but to use my room during the construction period.”
“If it doesn’t inconvenience you, that should be fine.”
“Yes. If necessary, I can stay somewhere else for a while, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“Somewhere else?”
“There’s a new manor that just appeared right next door called Shinpung Manor.”
“I am aware of it.”
“In truth, they are people who received help from my mother. They were living in the Wulin Alliance when they heard news of me and came to help my maternal family.”
Yi Sang-woo looked at Cheonhwa with eyes that asked for a more detailed explanation, as this was the first he had heard of it.
“So what happened was…”
Cheonhwa explained everything about how the New Wind Squad had arrived and why they were now living in the manor called Shinpung Manor.
“Hmm… Did you plan for things to turn out this way from the beginning?”
“I never imagined there would be people who had received help from my mother within the Wulin Alliance. However, I did think that since she held a fairly high position, there would be those who followed her.”
“Like the Black Wind Squad?”
“Yes. So when I met So-ryong and Jin-hwa, I created a small disturbance and dropped hints so they could realize I was my mother’s son. Not long after, the New Wind Squad came looking for me.”
Yi Sang-woo had always thought Cheonhwa was no ordinary child, but only today did he realize just how intelligent and farsighted the boy truly was.
“That’s why I’ve been discussing methods with the New Wind Squad to purchase the manor and absorb the businesses that the Jiangsu Merchant Group has been operating illegally. We’re also pushing forward with several other projects.”
“Behind the Jiangsu Merchant Group stands the Moon Shadow Sect.”
“I’m not afraid of the Moon Shadow Sect. If I wanted to suppress them with force, I could do so whenever I wished. The only reason I haven’t taken direct action is because I’m worried that people from my maternal family might get hurt in the process. Besides, it’s rather fun to use my head like this little by little and accomplish something.”
“In all of Jiangsu Province, there is probably no one else who would speak of the Moon Shadow Sect the way you do.”
Cheonhwa smiled brightly. As Yi Sang-woo looked at that smile, he felt once again that this child was truly different from others.
“Grandfather.”
“What is it?”
“I want to turn our maternal family into the greatest merchant group in the world.”
Yi Sang-woo gazed at Cheonhwa.
“I know it won’t be easy. I know it will be incredibly difficult. And I know it might even be impossible.”
“Yet you still wish to do it?”
“Rather than wandering the murim without purpose or dreams, chasing after its romance based solely on what my parents told me, gaining a bit of fame only to be swept up in grudges and tossed about in all directions, this seems far more interesting. And in the process of turning our maternal family into the greatest merchant house under the heavens, I’ll probably gain some renown in the murim as well.”
Yi Sang-woo looked at Cheonhwa with eyes full of pride. The way the boy spoke so clearly and decisively reminded him so much of Yi Hwarin.
“It’s a fine thought. Very well, do as you wish. However, this old grandfather has one condition.”
“What is it?”
“Make sure you always discuss things with your maternal uncle before proceeding. It would also be good to let Cheon-sang know.”
“I will.”
“Then it’s settled. This old grandfather will cheer you on.”
Cheonhwa went down to the training hall beneath his room that his grandfather, Yi Sang-woo, had told him about.
Perhaps because it had gone unused for so long, it was covered in dust, spiderwebs, and damp moss. Still, it was more than adequate as a place to train in martial arts.
“Such a good place has been sitting idle all this time. From now on, I’ll use it every single day.”
Cheonhwa sat in the lotus position in the center of the training hall. He placed both hands over his lower dantian, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and began circulating the mental technique that formed the foundation of the martial arts he had learned.
As soon as Cheonhwa started circulating the technique, the internal energy residing throughout his body began to move slowly, flowing gradually toward the Yongquan points on the soles of his feet.
The energy coursing through his meridians instantly burned away all the impurities that had accumulated in his body, returning it to the pure, untainted state it had possessed at birth.
Even masters who had undergone Hwan-gol-tal-tae and reached the Profound Realm, restoring their youth, would inevitably accumulate waste products in their bodies and meridians through breathing, eating, and engaging in the pleasures between man and woman. If those impurities were allowed to build up without being burned away by internal energy, they would inevitably cause discomfort when practicing martial arts.
That was why high-level experts periodically circulated their energy to burn away the accumulated waste using the power of their internal energy. However, this was not something just anyone could do—it was only possible for martial artists who had surpassed first-class and reached the Transcendence realm.
Once the energy had burned away every last trace of the minute impurities within his body, it began to move in earnest.
Heavenly Spiritual Divine Art!
The Heavenly Spiritual Divine Art, named after his own constitution—the Heavenly Spiritual Body—was a martial art created by combining the techniques of his father and mother.
It was already astonishing that a martial art rooted in the very essence of the demonic path and one rooted in the essence of the righteous path had been fused together. But the fact that Cheonhwa had gone even further and created an entirely new martial art from them proved that his talent was unparalleled under the heavens.
When one considered who his parents were, it was understandable that he had inherited such talent. Yet Cheonhwa’s actual ability far exceeded even the expectations of his parents, Cheonwoo and Yi Hwarin.
As he circulated the Heavenly Spiritual Heart Technique that served as the foundation of the Heavenly Spiritual Divine Art, a powerful energy flowed from Cheonhwa’s body and began to affect the training hall.
The accumulated dust, spiderwebs, and damp moss all vanished without a trace the moment they came into contact with his energy.
Cheonhwa’s body, which emitted a faint glow, seemed to split in two. One side transformed into the figure of a ferocious and malevolent evil god, while the other became the form of a heavenly deity reminiscent of the Thousand-Handed Avalokitesvara—pure, beautiful, and benevolent.
The sight was incredibly bizarre, yet Cheonhwa continued circulating the Heavenly Spiritual Heart Technique as if nothing were out of the ordinary.
As the circulation continued, flames erupted from the hand of the evil god, while the hand of the heavenly deity slowly froze over like cold ice.
The evil god and the heavenly deity, fire and water—beings that should devour and tear at each other until nothing remained—had manifested within a single body. It was an utterly grotesque spectacle.
In the murim, when such a phenomenon occurred while practicing martial arts, it was normal for the practitioner to suffer in agony and fall into qi deviation. Yet Cheonhwa’s expression remained utterly serene.
The opposing energies flowed out through the Baihui point at the crown of Cheonhwa’s head, completely filling the training hall.
The energy that filled the hall was drawn back into his body with each inhalation, only to flow out again through his Baihui point. This cycle repeated endlessly.
In the midst of it all, Cheonhwa completed a small heavenly circuit with the Heavenly Spiritual Heart Technique and began moving his internal energy to perform a great heavenly circuit.
When Cheonhwa executed the great heavenly circuit, the two opposing energies merged into one and transformed into an entirely different appearance. Neither the evil god nor the heavenly deity remained—only Cheonhwa’s original, ordinary appearance returned.
Anyone who saw this might have thought his internal energy had dispersed because he had stopped circulating. But Cheonhwa was still actively operating the Heavenly Spiritual Heart Technique.
Once the great heavenly circuit was complete, the energy that had filled the training hall was once again absorbed into his body through the Baihui point. The turbulent air within the hall gradually settled back into its usual calm state.
“Huu…”
Cheonhwa let out a long, deep breath, stabilized his mind and body, opened his eyes, and smiled brightly.
“Circulating energy really does feel refreshing.”
He brushed himself off, stood up, and slowly began moving his body.
“It’s been a while. Shall I give my body a proper workout?”
He looked around the training hall and said,
“Though I’m not sure if the training hall will be able to withstand it.”
Fwoooosh!
A rather large manor was engulfed in fierce flames.
“Kuaaaak!”
Screams echoed from within the manor.
As one entered the grounds, the nauseating stench of blood was so thick it felt suffocating.
In the blood-soaked courtyard, countless people lay dying, bleeding profusely.
“You monstrous bastard, die!”
The manor’s warriors shouted as they charged fiercely at the man wielding axes in both hands. But contrary to their hopes, the axe-wielding man was far beyond what they could handle.
“Kuaaaak!”
Already, more than a hundred warriors had died at his hands.
“You wretch!”
An old man roared as he leaped toward the axe-wielding man, swinging his sword in midair to unleash sword qi. But with a single swing of the man’s axe, the sword qi shattered into pieces in the air.
The man hurled his remaining axe at the old man as he descended from the air. The axe tore through the air with terrifying force and smashed the old man’s skull to pieces.
“Father!”
A middle-aged man cried out in shock at the sight, but by the time the old man’s body hit the ground, he had already lost his life.
“You demonic bastard!”
When the middle-aged man shouted at the axe-wielding man, a cold sneer formed on the latter’s lips.
“You did the same.”
“What?”
“You people trampled on my family just like this. You violated my family as they begged for their lives and slaughtered them mercilessly.”
“Who the hell are you…?”
It seemed these people did not recognize the axe-wielding man.
“I am Yu Sang, the young palace lord of the Beast Palace, which you barbarians cursed and annihilated ten years ago.”
At the words Beast Palace, the middle-aged man’s face twisted.
“Then you’re the one who fell into the river back then and was swept down the waterfall…”
As the man took a step forward, a massive black tiger slowly sauntered up beside him.
It was Mukho.
Mukho walked slowly beside his master, radiating a terrifying killing intent. The aura was so powerful it felt as if a Transcendence realm expert was unleashing their killing intent. The people around them began to grow visibly nervous.
“Don’t come any closer, you bastard!”
The middle-aged man shouted in fear, but the man showed no sign of stopping. He continued walking forward and stretched his hand toward the air.
The axe that had shattered the old man’s skull flew back into his grasp.
“Not a single person will leave this place alive today.”
The moment he finished speaking, the man crossed the axes in both hands and brought them down. A ferocious surge of energy shot forth, piercing straight through the middle-aged man’s body and punching a hole through the building behind him.
Kwaaaang…!
“It’s collapsing! Run!”
The building, unable to withstand the force, came crashing down, burying the people around it.
“Kuaaaak!”
Ten years ago, the Beast Palace, which had made its home on Great Black Mountain in Heilongjiang Province, had been annihilated by the Blood Heaven Sect, a massive unorthodox faction in the same province.
The young palace lord of the Beast Palace, who had barely survived after countless hardships, had fallen from a waterfall and been drawn by a mysterious force into a cave behind the falls. There, he had obtained not only his life but also a heaven-sent opportunity—martial arts and internal energy powerful enough to look down upon the entire world.
And now, ten years later, Yu Sang, the former young palace lord of the Beast Palace, had returned to exact his revenge, dyeing the Blood Heaven Sect in blood.
Kwaaaang!
When Mukho’s roar echoed across the sky above the Blood Heaven Sect, the warriors of the sect trembled in terror.
One might wonder why martial artists who had trained in martial arts would fear a tiger, but the Mukho that accompanied Yu Sang was no ordinary beast. It was a spiritual creature. It possessed such strength, agility, fangs, and claws that it could easily tear apart even a Transcendence realm expert. No matter how skilled a martial artist might be, they were no match for Mukho.
While Yu Sang carried out his revenge against the sect leader of the Blood Heaven Sect and his family, Mukho rampaged through the warriors, tearing them apart.
Thus, the Blood Heaven Sect, which had committed every kind of atrocity in Heilongjiang Province, was wiped out in a single day. Yet in all of Heilongjiang, there was not a single person who mourned their deaths.
Having completed his revenge for the Beast Palace, Yu Sang stood on a hill overlooking the former site of the Beast Palace and gazed at the land.
The Black Dragon Merchant Group, now the greatest merchant group in Heilongjiang Province and one of the Ten Great Merchant Groups, had established its headquarters there.
Yu Sang stared for a long time at the place that had become the main house of the Black Dragon Merchant Group. Finally, he opened his mouth.
“I will go to the Central Plains. Once I’m there, I will make many true friends with whom I can share my heart.”
Even as he spoke, his throat tightened, and he swallowed dryly.
“And in the Central Plains, I will establish the Beast Palace once more. I will create a Beast Palace that will never again be destroyed by the hands of others—the greatest Beast Palace under the heavens.”
“Grrrrr.”
Mukho let out a low growl, as if to say it understood and would help him achieve that goal.
“Please watch over me from the heavens.”