Opening the Dragon Eye
I slowly opened my eyes.
“Ugh...”
Blinding light stabbed at them, but my vision quickly focused, and the familiar ceiling came into view.
Where am I... In Jigeom Sect’s inner quarters?
Zhuge Hyeonggeon was seated beside me. The moment he saw my eyes open, he let out a breath and looked visibly relieved.
“You’ve come to. Thank goodness. You were unconscious for nearly three days.”
Three days? That long?
Instinctively, I reached for my dantian. A massive surge of energy lay there, so vivid it was almost overwhelming. The presence of the Dragon Pearl felt far clearer than before. I gently stirred my inner power.
Wooooong—!
The qi within my body answered with terrifying intensity. Its reaction speed was beyond anything it had been before. I circulated it just a little, and in an instant it completed a full heavenly circuit before returning to my dantian. The meridians, stripped of every impurity, had been remade for peak performance.
This is insane...
Wooooong— wooooong—
I could also feel Fire Dragon’s power contained within the Dragon Pearl.
By cutting down the hound of the wraith, I had clearly grown once again.
But...
There will definitely be a price.
Fire Dragon had chosen me for its own amusement. If it had granted me this power, then it would surely demand compensation in return.
Hoo...
I slowly drew in a breath. Zhuge Hyeonggeon was staring at me fixedly. As always, his face was full of curiosity.
Yet there was one clear change in that gaze.
Deep trust.
He had been deeply moved by the sight of me standing my ground to save him at the very last moment. Just then, he looked at me and his eyes widened.
“Huh? Young master, your right eye—?”
“Pardon? Is something wrong with my eye?”
Feigning ignorance, I quickly suppressed the power of the Dragon Pearl. Zhuge Hyeonggeon tilted his head, clearly puzzled. I hurriedly asked him,
“...What happened after I collapsed?”
He hesitated briefly before speaking.
“There was an enormous roar from inside, and it seemed a battle broke out. I quickly returned to the lodging, brought Uncle Zhuge Ho with me, and came back to the cave. By the time we returned, everything had gone quiet again. After checking with my uncle, it seems the rift in the Illusion Gate has closed once more.”
“...I see. Just as I thought.”
Zhuge Hyeonggeon let out a deep sigh.
“What on earth happened in there? That dreadful beast that came out... did you truly kill it on your own, young master?”
“You saw the beast?”
Zhuge Hyeonggeon nodded.
“Yes. A huge one was lying collapsed right near where you were unconscious. It must have been the thing you fought. That creature... you really dealt with it?”
I quietly nodded.
“Yes. I was lucky enough to put it down.”
Then Zhuge Hyeonggeon stood and gave me a formal bow.
“Zhuge Hyeonggeon is in your debt for saving my life. I offer you my sincere thanks. And this incident has made me certain of one thing: you will become an even more important figure in Murim from this point on.”
I looked at him and gave a small smile.
“Don’t put too much pressure on me. I’m still lacking in many ways.”
“Perhaps. But one thing is certain: I no longer intend to see you as merely a partner.”
Zhuge Hyeonggeon smiled, yet his eyes had sharpened even further.
“I am prepared to cooperate with you fully. I want to see, to the very end, what path you’ll walk.”
I smiled back.
“The same could be said of us both.”
I pushed myself up from the bed. The moment I did, Zhuge Hyeonggeon gasped.
“You can move already?”
“Yes. Lying around was getting on my nerves. And we still have a problem to solve.”
I still needed to return to the forest for the original goal: collecting Illusion Stones. I was also curious about what had become of the Wraithhound that had vanished at the end. In truth, that second reason was what really drew me back there.
It must have dropped an Illusion Stone... and if I’m lucky, maybe even byproducts.
If you hunt, you take your reward. Even if the price is feeling like your body is about to come apart.
“Ah... if you’re talking about the byproducts from that beast, there’s no need to rush. I’ve already secured everything.”
“Ah... is that so?”
“Yes. Since it came from the creature you defeated, I’ve stored it carefully so I can hand it all over to you.”
“Thanks for taking care of even the byproducts.”
Zhuge Hyeonggeon waved his hands in a panic.
“Please, don’t say it like that.”
“Hmm... still, I do need the Illusion Stones, so let’s go back to the forest.”
“Aigoo—no matter how you put it, going right now would be too much. The Illusion Stones aren’t going anywhere, so rest first and go tomorrow.”
At Zhuge Hyeonggeon’s insistence, I finally lay back down. He said he would return to the lodging, make preparations for tomorrow’s trip into the forest, and then come back. After he left, I got back up and stepped outside. Lying still had become unbearable; my body was itching to move. Once I reached the training ground, I immediately felt that the atmosphere within the sect had changed. While I was unconscious, word had spread everywhere that Zhuge Hyeonggeon and I had faced and defeated an unknown existence in the Illusion Gate, and that I had saved him.
The gazes of my junior disciples had become heavier.
Respect.
Expectation.
I was the one who had taken down an unknown beast no one could even identify and had even saved a member of the prestigious Zhuge family. Everyone knew how serious an event that was, and how large a debt Zhuge Clan would now owe because of it. It was also common knowledge that the great Zhuge family never forgot debts or grudges.
“Senior brother!!! You’re awake?”
“We were all worried, wondering what had happened to you.”
I smiled at the disciples.
“Thanks for worrying about me.”
“But Senior Brother, you look even more radiant than before.”
At one disciple’s remark, the others all cried out in admiration.
“Wow? Senior Brother’s skin is unreal!!”
My looks had already been above average to begin with. Thanks to my rebirth through reborn flesh and bone, I seemed to have become even more handsome. I gave a light laugh and replied,
“What does a martial artist need looks for? Stop saying useless things.”
Beyond the crowd of disciples gathered around me, I could see the faces of Ji So-un and Ji Su-hak. Their expressions were complicated.
“......”
“......”
They now saw me as someone they had to keep an eye on.
Though perhaps I had been that kind of target from the beginning.
Snort.
The corners of my mouth lifted slightly, and Ji Su-hak immediately bristled. Ji So-un dragged the fuming Ji Su-hak away from the training ground. I turned my eyes from the two of them as they left. Then I went to one side of the training grounds and loosened my body with a few easy stretches. My body, newly rebuilt with Fire Dragon’s power, was extraordinary.
Unbelievable.
Not only could I circulate inner power with complete freedom, but my body itself had been turned into a weapon built purely for combat. Since there were eyes on me, I only checked the condition of my body for the moment.
Next, it was time to learn about the Dragon Eye.
I cautiously drew up the power of the Dragon Pearl. After my rebirth through bone and flesh, handling its power had become far more natural. Slowly, I circulated my inner energy.
Wooooong—
The Dragon Pearl’s power surged within my dantian. Then it began concentrating into my right eye, where the Dragon Eye had awakened.
At that moment—
My vision changed.
The world before me flooded with red light. Everything became transparent, and I could feel the current of everything. Even the slightest tremor in the air came to me.
So this is... the power of the Dragon Eye?
The world looked utterly different now. It was not merely that things seemed sharper. I understood the flow of the world itself. I looked around me.
The movement of the air appeared with startling clarity.
The energy coursing through leaves was rendered visually before my eyes.
The presence of distant beings appeared as distinct shapes.
This was not simple sight.
It was the vision of a divine dragon.
The ability to see through the flow of things.
I understood instinctively.
I had truly obtained an absurd power.
And then I encountered something even more astonishing.
“Huh?”
The moment I looked at the disciples training in the yard, I saw something I had never been able to see before. The trajectories of their sword strikes appeared as lines. The flow of each blade was automatically analyzed in my mind. Every slash was understood almost like a blueprint.
In that instant, I understood.
This was the power of the Dragon Eye.
A vision that reads martial arts. Not understanding, but imprinting. I felt it at once. This was not ordinary comprehension. It was more like a martial manual being engraved directly into my mind. As if I had always known the technique from the start, my body could respond instantly because it had been imprinted into me. I had seen every form of the Jigeom Eighteen Swords before. But what surfaced now was not mere memory. The forms were being broken apart in my head, reconstructed, and organized into a perfect shape.
I felt a rush of excitement.
That meant simply seeing martial arts was enough to have them etched into my mind.
If this was the power of the Dragon Eye—
—then I could learn any martial art just by looking at it.
This is completely insane...!
What I had lacked most was high-level martial arts. I had enough information about the Illusion Gates and beasts, but not enough access to top-tier techniques. Yet the Dragon Eye wiped out that problem in one stroke.
Wooooong—
I kept using the Dragon Eye and watching the disciples. The lines of their swordwork tangled together in the training ground like a chaotic web.
What about inner methods too?
After deactivating the Dragon Eye, I approached one of the disciples and told him to begin seated breathing and circulation. He did as instructed at once.
I opened the power of the Dragon Eye again.
This time, I could see straight through the disciple’s internal circulation as he worked his inner method. The movement of inner power through the method appeared like a map. And just as before, the inner method he was practicing imprinted itself into my mind.
A tingling thrill rushed through my entire body.
From now on, I no longer needed to struggle to obtain excellent martial arts. All I had to do was meet someone who possessed them. Names of countless supreme techniques and peerless arts began rising in my mind. These were the kinds of techniques that could turn a person into a tremendous master just by learning one of them.
All I had to do was watch.
And then it would be engraved into my body.
From now on, I can make every martial art in Murim mine.