Chapter 96
Chapter 96
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Opening the Governing and Conception Vessels
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“I’ve heard enough.”
“Ah!”
Jin-dong’s face looked as though the sky were falling.
I held up the wine flask.
“Receive the wine.”
“Pardon?”
Jang Ung admonished him sternly.
“The Lord has told you to receive the wine.”
Jin-dong quickly came to my side, respectfully extending an empty cup with both hands and bowing his head.
I filled the cup to the brim.
“Light-Splitting Sword is an important person to me.”
“……”
Seeing Jin-dong’s stunned and blank expression, I continued.
“Therefore, you will wait here and meet him.”
“Is my Third Martial Uncle here?”
Jin-dong was utterly startled.
“Do you know the identity of Light-Splitting Sword?”
“Does my Third Martial Uncle have another identity besides being an elder of our sect?”
It was only right for Jin-dong to meet Sang Gang-jo first.
“Light-Splitting Sword will arrive here in a few days.”
“Ah! I can’t believe I’ll be able to meet my Third Martial Uncle…!”
Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo sent me a telepathic message.
[Blue Cloud Sword is one of the Alliance’s Ten Great Elders.]
If that was the case, then Jin-dong’s master, Blue Cloud Sword, would also be coming with Sang Gang-jo.
The first and second elders of the Mount Qingcheng Sect held important positions in the Martial Alliance. For their disciple and martial nephew to be the Vice Lord of the Four Seas Way, it was bound to be a strange reunion.
“Jin-dong, if your plan receives the approval of Light-Splitting Sword, I will help you.”
“Ah! Thank you!”
After a moment, having calmed his excitement somewhat, Jin-dong spoke.
“When will my Third Martial Uncle arrive?”
“He should be here in three or four days.”
Jin-dong said cautiously.
“If I stay here alone for too long, they might become suspicious.”
“How about I detain you?”
“My subordinates on the ship are my trusted confidants.”
“I’ll detain them as well.”
* * *
Currently, the Dong-ro Branch consisted of the Grand Branch and four other branches. The new recruits of the Dong-ro Branch were staying at the Fourth Branch.
I took the Thousand Illusions Wanderer to the Fourth Branch.
Only four people were staying here: Life-Ending Saber Geum Cheong-san, Lightning Wall Ghostly Shadow Spear Neung Yu-seong, Golden Dragon Young Master Namgung Yeong-ho, and Hainan’s One Divine Sword Gu Bon-gyeong.
What they all had in common was that they had all defeated Mak-pyo and Do Hyeon-tak, and had all been defeated by me.
They had been cooped up in their own quarters without so much as greeting one another.
Neung Yu-seong, Geum Cheong-san, Namgung Yeong-ho, and Gu Bon-gyeong stood haphazardly before me.
“Line up in front of me.”
They all moved sluggishly.
I spoke to Song Ga-hyeon.
“You go stand with them as well.”
Song Ga-hyeon stood at the end of the line, next to Neung Yu-seong.
“You have all become members of the Dong-ro Branch.”
I pointed at Song Ga-hyeon.
“This man is your Team Leader. You are to follow his orders.”
They all stared at Song Ga-hyeon.
“Do you know who he is?”
“He is the Thousand Illusions Wanderer.”
Namgung Yeong-ho answered. He and Gu Bon-gyeong had applied to join at the same time as the Thousand Illusions Wanderer.
Neung Yu-seong asked, startled.
“You mean the Thousand Illusions Wanderer from the Invincible Registry of the Divine Province?”
“Yes.”
“Ah!”
Neung Yu-seong was greatly surprised, and Geum Cheong-san also looked at Song Ga-hyeon with newfound interest.
Neung Yu-seong and the others had felt somewhat intimidated by the great reputation of Life-Ending Saber Geum Cheong-san, who was also on the Invincible Registry.
Geum Cheong-san, for his part, had regarded Neung Yu-seong and the others as small fry, not even bothering to speak to them and only maintaining a stoic air.
But now, with the appearance of a major figure like the Thousand Illusions Wanderer, the atmosphere changed completely.
Namgung Yeong-ho asked with a curious expression.
“Did the Thousand Illusions Wanderer also lose to Great Hero Ak?”
“Why else would I be here if I hadn’t lost!”
Song Ga-hyeon retorted sharply.
Namgung Yeong-ho flinched but couldn’t contain his curiosity and asked me.
“Between the Thousand Illusions Wanderer and Life-Ending Saber, who was stronger?”
“Life-Ending Saber lasted seventeen stances, while the Thousand Illusions Wanderer inflicted two wounds on me.”
What good was lasting a hundred stances if one couldn’t even touch the hem of my clothes? It was self-evident that the one who inflicted a wound was stronger.
“Incredible!”
“To wound Great Hero Fire Dragon Sword, is that even possible?”
Neung Yu-seong and the others exclaimed in admiration, spittle flying.
Geum Cheong-san cupped his fist to Song Ga-hyeon.
“It’s a pleasure. I am Geum Cheong-san.”
“I am the Thousand Illusions Wanderer.”
Song Ga-hyeon did not reveal his name.
Geum Cheong-san spoke politely.
“Let us have a match sometime.”
“I refuse.”
I casually remarked.
“Hey, Team Leader, don’t be coy like a woman. Give him a match.”
At the word ‘woman,’ Song Ga-hyeon shot me a glare, lightning flashing in his eyes.
Song Ga-hyeon said coldly.
“Taeju, watch your words.”
“Alright.”
Seeing Song Ga-hyeon stand up to me, Neung Yu-seong and the others were dumbfounded.
Gu Bon-gyeong asked.
“By the way, why do you call Great Hero Fire Dragon Sword ‘Taeju’?”
He had asked Song Ga-hyeon, but he didn’t answer. He had a prickly personality. So I explained.
“The Team Leader shortened ‘Grand Branch Master’ because it was too long.”
“Then we’ll call you Taeju as well.”
“As you wish.”
Namgung Yeong-ho asked.
“Taeju! Then what should we be called?”
I asked Song Ga-hyeon.
“What do you think would be a good name?”
It seemed Song Ga-hyeon had a talent for naming things.
“Grand Branch Member would be good.”
“Shortened, that would be Taewon.”
“That’s cool!”
Namgung Yeong-ho cheered.
I was Taeju, and the five here were Taewon.
Namgung Yeong-ho asked again.
“Taeju! Is it true that Blood Crow Saber from the Invincible Registry has applied to join?”
“It is.”
It seemed Namgung Yeong-ho had a lot he wanted to know.
“Will Blood Crow Saber also become a Grand Branch Member?”
“Only if he loses to me.”
“Is there any chance of you losing, Taeju?”
“One can never be certain of the ways of the world.”
I gestured toward Song Ga-hyeon with my chin.
“Do you think the Team Leader thought he would lose before he fought me?”
Namgung Yeong-ho nodded his head vigorously.
“Ah… I see.”
Song Ga-hyeon’s sharp, feminine voice came through a telepathic message.
[Why do you keep picking on me when I’m just standing here?]
When I smiled faintly, Song Ga-hyeon’s cold message followed.
[Taeju, watch your back at night.]
* * *
I had been thinking about it ever since my duel with Life-Ending Saber Geum Cheong-san, and I had now reached a conclusion.
Tonight, I would open the Gate of Life and Death—that is, the Governing and Conception Vessels. I had to.
While helping Go Un-hyo undergo a complete physical rebirth, I had unexpectedly also cleansed his marrow and opened his Governing and Conception Vessels.
At that time, I had thought that I should do the same for myself when the need arose, and it seemed that time was now.
Geum Cheong-san’s internal energy was equivalent to two sixty-year cycles, one hundred and twenty years, and Song Ga-hyeon’s was at a similar level.
However, my own pure internal energy was ninety years’ worth. Adding the twenty years of Yin Essence I could convert, it totaled one hundred and ten years. It was lacking compared to Geum Cheong-san and Song Ga-hyeon.
When I fought them, I was pushed back in terms of internal energy and had to draw upon ten years’ worth of Yang Essence. Even forcing it like that, I barely reached one hundred and twenty years of internal energy.
Even so, my internal energy was only on par with theirs. The reason I could defeat them was that my martial arts were superior, and I had used a small amount of Yang Essence like a secret ingredient.
Moreover, in the duel against Song Ga-hyeon, I was struck by his flexible sword in two places right at the start. If my internal energy had been higher, that would not have happened.
In the future, I would undoubtedly face masters even stronger than Song Ga-hyeon and Geum Cheong-san.
Therefore, it was imperative for me to open my Governing and Conception Vessels and increase my internal energy.
* * *
I came alone to my favorite spot by the Qiantang River.
Dozens of boulders lay shattered and scattered, but since the entire area was a rock formation, there was still enough cover to hide my body.
I sat in a lotus position on a low rock, closed my eyes, and attempted to circulate my energy and regulate my breath. I had to be able to do that before I could open the Governing and Conception Vessels.
But to even attempt it, I needed to know what I was doing. In my situation, not even knowing what cultivation method I had learned, it was nothing more than meditation.
Meditation or whatever, once I started something, I became completely immersed.
I delved so deeply into meditation that I forgot everything else entirely. I even forgot what I was doing.
In truth, the beginning of circulating energy is meditation and immersion. After that, one circulates the internal energy from the dantian through the body’s meridians according to the incantations of a cultivation method.
‘Where am I?’
I was in a pitch-black place where I could see nothing.
‘What? What’s going on?’
But I felt a very clear and refreshing energy, and soon I heard something like the sound of wind.
*Whooosh…*
‘My dantian!’
I realized that this dark place where I—no, my consciousness—was located was my dantian.
The purpose of the meditation was to circulate my energy. That was why my consciousness had been guided to my dantian, where the circulation took place. It was a very natural and logical progression.
There, I directly experienced the process of my body’s constant energy circulation and learned that the cultivation method I had learned was the Heavenly Elixir Heart Art from over five hundred years ago.
My consciousness had now imprinted this fact, so I would never forget the Heavenly Elixir Heart Art again.
‘Then, now!’
My consciousness was to become one with the circulation of energy.
I placed a pill in my mouth, chewed, and swallowed.
I had created three pills by boiling down the Celestial Horn Yang Herb, the Earth Spirit Yin Root, and the Immortal Yin-Yang Serpent together.
Go Un-hyo had taken one, I had just taken one, and now only one remained.
A terrible pain came in three successive waves.
I had watched from the side as Go Un-hyo suffered while I helped him with his physical rebirth, marrow cleansing, and the opening of his vessels, but experiencing that pain myself was far more excruciating than I had imagined.
However, compared to the countless pains I had endured throughout my life, this kind of pain didn’t even rank.
“Grrr…”
But no matter how terrible past pains were, the pain of the present is always harder to bear. After all, a wind that has passed is no longer cold.
“Haaa…”
I was so exhausted I couldn’t move a single finger, and I lay sprawled out like a starfish amidst the pile of rocks.
I had not expected that opening the Governing and Conception Vessels would take so long and leave a person so utterly drained.
I couldn’t just lie here forever. I had to check what I had accomplished.
“Ugh!”
I forced myself to sit up, my whole body feeling like it was in tatters.
I attempted to circulate my energy.
Unlike the constant circulation my body performed on its own, I initiated the circulation of energy by my own will.
Because my consciousness had entered my dantian in a state of complete immersion, I believed I should now be able to circulate my energy at will and feel it.
‘My god…!’
I was utterly dumbfounded.
The result after the first circulation was so strange that I circulated my energy again to confirm.
Even after the second circulation, the result was the same as the first.
‘Three sixty-year cycles of internal energy? Does that even make sense?’
It was exactly three sixty-year cycles, no more, no less.
The three Great Chambers in my dantian were completely full. One Great Chamber held one sixty-year cycle of internal energy.
This meant my current internal energy was equivalent to one hundred and eighty years. Even for someone with nerves of steel like me, in a situation like this, it was difficult to tell if I was dreaming or if this was reality.
Usually, when a martial artist opens their Governing and Conception Vessels and their internal energy doubles, it’s when their internal energy is less than a sixty-year cycle.
For someone like me, with close to a hundred years of internal energy, it was normal to gain thirty to forty years of internal energy from opening the vessels.
Someone with more internal energy than me would gain slightly less. This was because the effects of opening the vessels were not limited to just increasing internal energy. It was written as such in the Medical Scripture of the Central Heaven, the encyclopedia of all medical knowledge in the world.
But defying such medical common sense, my ninety years of internal energy had doubled to one hundred and eighty years, three sixty-year cycles.
I sat there stunned for a while before shaking my head vigorously to clear my mind.
‘How did this happen?’
One of the things I had come to believe since my days as an orphan was that there is no result without a cause.