Chapter 35
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: The True Second Ability
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In the Nangong Family, they conducted a massive search of Hefei to track down the Demonic Cult and Blood Cult forces, but no further traces of them could be found.
Once their plan to secure the Ice Sacred Body failed, they had vanished immediately.
"It's strange that Elder Yu hasn't shown up, though."
Jong Sobin spoke gravely.
She had expected Yu Yeongrip to intervene somehow during the battle with the Blood Cult and Demonic Cult groups, but for some reason, he hadn't even shown his face.
That left it as a lingering question for her even now that the crisis had passed.
And he wasn't visible around Yeoseol either.
I went to the annex where Jong Sobin was staying—opposite Nangong Mubaek's residence—and had a conversation with her.
"If there's no other suspicious movement, no need to worry about it. Focus on recovering for now."
As soon as I finished speaking, Jong Sobin pulled out a single book.
"I was planning to give this to you before heading to the Murim Alliance."
"What is it?"
"It's a manual compiling the North Sea Ice Palace's martial arts. This is what I wanted to hand over. I was also going to give you some acupuncture charts and medical texts, but we'll do that when we leave Hefei. We don't know how long we'll stay, but until then, we'll keep the business running."
"Sounds good. But if you give away the Ice Palace's secret manual, how will you teach Palace Lord Yeowon?"
"I have it memorized, and there's a copy."
"I'll give it to Yeoseol once she's old enough to read and write."
"No need. Scholar Cheon can read it and teach her."
"How could I presume to look upon the Ice Palace's sacred techniques?"
I replied coolly, assuming she was testing me.
"Yeoseol will become the Ice Palace Lord someday. And Scholar Cheon, as her brother, can't be considered an outsider to the palace."
Unable to teach Yeoseol personally, she had chosen me as the next best option.
"With your level of attainment, Scholar Cheon, I believe you can teach even our most profound martial arts effectively. Besides, she'll master most techniques on her own with her Ice Sacred Body talents."
The North Sea Ice Palace was at a tipping point of decline, so Jong Sobin planned to preserve their martial arts through dual lineages.
One through herself, and the other through Scholar Cheon.
She saw it as the safest method right now.
If things went wrong and they were wiped out by the Blood Cult, Demonic Cult, or the Ice Palace elders' faction, there would be no way to rebuild their arts.
It was a conclusion she had reached after much deliberation with Hwayeong.
"If that's your will."
I accepted her offer.
Wang Qing reorganized the White Tiger Unit and immediately departed for the Murim Alliance.
He buried the dead on the spot, took the lightly wounded with him, and left the seriously injured at the safehouse.
"Contact me when you arrive at the Murim Alliance. We'll share a drink with the Azure Dragon Unit Leader then. And Inspector Gu Jinha—I will make sure she faces justice."
With those words, Wang Qing left.
A few days later, I met with Family Head Nangong.
"Without Scholar Cheon, many of our family disciples would have been gravely injured. You handled the Demonic Cult division leader, averting disaster. We are truly grateful."
Nangong Hak rose and cupped his hands in salute to me.
I stood as well, returning the gesture.
"And another debt of gratitude. Thanks to Scholar Cheon, our youngest has finally become a proper man. Truly, thank you."
Jeon Ian smiled radiantly from the side.
"I hear our youngest has earned a nickname. Nangong Heavenly Dragon Sword, they say. Ho ho ho!"
I had heard it from the Nangong warriors myself.
Many had witnessed the heavenly dragon aura he emitted in battle.
Recalling the scene filled me with pride.
"Nangong Heavenly Dragon Sword—what a proud title. It's all thanks to Scholar Cheon's guidance."
"No, I did nothing. The young master attained enlightenment on his own."
"Ho ho ho, still so humble."
Jeon Ian looked happier than ever.
And who could blame her? The disgrace of the family, their wastrel youngest son, had transformed into the dashing hero Nangong Heavenly Dragon Sword.
"To cut to the chase, how could we overlook the grace of turning our wastrel son into a man? So, I've prepared a gift."
Nangong Hak placed a black-lacquered wooden box on the table.
"This is the Vault of Heaven Pill, a treasured elixir of our family. It doesn't match Shaolin's Great Return Pill, but we pride ourselves that it's superior to Wudang's Supreme Clarity Pill or Mount Hua's Purple Harmony Divine Pill."
I nodded.
Elixirs like this, made from rare spiritual herbs, were exorbitantly expensive.
Poor sects or families couldn't dream of acquiring the ingredients.
Only wealthy powers like the Nangong Family could procure the best materials to refine such pills.
I had no disagreement that the Five Great Families' elixirs surpassed those of the Nine Great Sects in efficacy.
As I simply gazed at it, Nangong Hak leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially.
"For our code of brotherhood, this much is the least, right?"
Even if I refused, he would find some pretext to give it anyway, so I decided to accept graciously.
"If the Family Head insists, I'll gladly receive it. I know this elixir is more precious than any gold or jewel. Thank you."
"Ha ha ha! I never imagined giving away an elixir would feel this good. It pained me terribly when I gave one to my brother recently. Human hearts are so fickle."
Nangong Hak burst into hearty laughter.
"Even watching from the side fills me with joy—can't imagine how the young master feels."
Lately, the couple seemed to get along so well it was almost unnerving.
"And when you take the elixir, use the family training chamber. I'll stand guard if needed."
I shook my head at his sincere offer.
"How could I impose like that? I'll borrow the chamber myself if necessary."
Returning to my residence with the elixir, I saw Yeoseol was asleep, so I entered my room and opened the wooden box.
A faint floral fragrance wafted out.
Medicines usually smelled like herbal decoctions when good ingredients were mixed, but this elixir exuded a rich flower scent.
'I planned to save it for later, but times are dangerous, and for Yeoseol's sake, I need to grow stronger.'
Until now, I hadn't felt the need to form a dantian.
Without one, my spiritual energy was enough to contend with masters like a Demonic Cult division leader.
But acquiring the Vault of Heaven Pill sparked my greed for internal energy as well.
I wondered if internal energy could complement my spiritual energy.
With my mind made up, I decided to consume it right away.
Though I'd told Nangong Hak I'd borrow the training chamber, I had no intention of going through the hassle.
Sensing no one nearby, I swallowed the Vault of Heaven Pill and sat cross-legged to circulate my energy.
I guided the elixir's qi through my spiritual meridians.
Along the Conception Vessel: the Big Dipper acupoints Baihui, Fengfu, Houding, Dazhui, Shenzhu, Mingmen, and Changqiang. Along the Governing Vessel: the same Baihui, Houzheng, Naohu, Dazhui, Shenzhu, Mingmen, and Zhangqiang. As the elixir's energy flowed repeatedly, a dantian began forming at the Mingmen acupoint.
"What an excellent elixir."
I formed the dantian in just one hourglass worth of time.
And I sensed internal energy equivalent to five years accumulated within.
The pill's quality helped, but so did having hundreds of meridians—no need for the Great or Small Heavenly Cycles.
Forming a dantian usually took days at best, over ten at worst—a grueling ordeal.
Feeling the dantian safely nestled at Mingmen, Gui Seonja's heart method, the Guyu Radiant Jade Heart Technique, suddenly came to mind.
'The Guyu Radiant Jade Heart Technique is indeed perfect for wielding spiritual energy.'
Reviewing the incantation, it encompassed all Big Dipper meridians and the rest of the spiritual meridians.
Only the sequence and direction differed slightly.
On a whim, I circulated the internal energy in my dantian with the Guyu Radiant Jade Heart Technique.
'Huh?'
As I did, without conscious effort, the three strands of spiritual energy began rotating on their own.
Normally, I had to focus to make spiritual energy rotate.
This time, it spun automatically.
'Did the Guyu Radiant Jade Heart Technique affect the spiritual energy?'
Before the thought fully formed, my dantian suddenly heated up fiercely.
"Ugh!"
Pain like a red-hot poker gouging my navel spread from the dantian through my body.
Then the agony surged upward.
Even abdominal cramps hit.
"Urgh!"
I couldn't thrash about, so I barely maintained my cross-legged posture, enduring desperately.
Even focusing to stop the spiritual energy's rotation did nothing.
The pain rising to my throat felt like swallowing a red-hot iron bead.
To escape it, I spat as if hacking up phlegm.
"Ptoo!"
A faint blue bead the size of a thumbnail dropped out.
"What in the world?"
Recalling Seven Stars Seven Origins texts, I searched for any mention of this, but no Esoteric Buddhist scripture described it.
'The Seven Stars Seven Origins ability is so bizarre it's beyond explanation.'
The bead wriggled and floated into the air.
Staring blankly, a hypothesis flashed through my mind.
"No way!"
I gasped in shock, muttering aloud without thinking.
"It's my dantian!"
What martial artist could ever expel their dantian from their body?
An unheard-of freak phenomenon.
The bead floated right to my nose.
Out of curiosity, I grabbed it.
It felt like warm, heated stone.
By now, dusk had fallen; it was time to light a candle.
As I reached for the fire starter, palm open, the bead slipped from my hand and floated up.
Was it the darkness?
The bead began emitting a soft glow.
"Oh!"
Amazed, I poked it with a finger and discovered another wonder.
The bead followed my finger.
"The Seven Origins ability is truly bizarre."
I felt like a child with his first beloved toy, childlike wonder restored.
The bead danced around the room at my gestures.
Whoosh!
Playing, I flicked my finger fast; the bead chased it swiftly.
"Oh ho! Let's see if it does this."
I sent the bead to the farthest corner, then pointed to the opposite wall, curious if it'd follow.
Using Agility, I moved my finger quickly.
Swoosh!
Thud!
The whoosh of slicing air I expected, but the thud was a surprise.
The bead had gone straight from one wall to the other as indicated.
"What?!"
Startled, I examined the waterfall-shaped scholar's rock in its path.
The stone I'd tested my first ability's power on before.
"My god!"
A perfect round hole pierced it.
Exactly along the bead's straight-line path.
"This bead punched a hole through the rock."
I could hardly believe my eyes.
"And it's just a five-year dantian. Or maybe because it is a dantian."
It meant power rivaling sword qi.
Not incomprehensible.
A dantian condensed five years of internal energy.
I drew the dantian back, wiped it on my sleeve, and swallowed it.
There was an odd sensation like gulping unchewed food, but not too bad.
"Let's try again."
I rotated the three spiritual energies to expel the dantian once more.
Visualizing its ejection, it emerged more smoothly than before.
The first time, the pain came from initial separation.
Feeling foolish for panicking, I played with the glowing, floating dantian, moving it about.
But a too-sudden finger flick sent it crashing through the paper window.
"Oops!"
Rushing outside, I found it embedded in the garden stone lantern.
A slight finger twitch pulled it free.
"Mess this up, and I could kill someone."
As I spoke, I realized its potential as a hidden weapon.
I shook my head ruefully.
"Already thinking of killing with it."
After several battles and kills, my mind had veered that way instinctively.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, the dantian shot into the sky and flew off.
"Hey! Where are you going?!"
I scrambled onto the roof, chasing the faintly glowing dantian.