Chapter 29
Chapter 29
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Killing Two Birds with One Stone (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Thud, thud!
Ha Jin-ak's internal energy, Ouyang Jue's own true qi, the spiritual energy of the Small Purple Spirit Elixir, and Jeong Jung-san's power all merged.
Once again, they…
…slammed violently against the wall.
“…Ugh, kh.”
Bright red blood trickled from between Ouyang Jue's tightly pressed lips.
It was not a good color.
Just like blackened blood, the bright red signified a deep internal injury.
Just then, a flash of light burst before his eyes.
It was as if countless explosives were detonating in Ouyang Jue's vision.
It signified the despair of losing Ha Jin-ak, an overwhelming power.
Yet, Ouyang Jue did not let his consciousness fade. Instead, it burned even more fiercely.
Thud, thud-thud!
One leap, a great step forward.
Ouyang Jue clutched his stomach, which felt ready to burst, and bent his knees.
A venomous fire ignited in Ouyang Jue's pupils.
But then, a cold voice washed over him.
*Do not push yourself any further.*
It was Jeong Jung-san.
What he felt from him was a sense of calm.
Soon, a force even more profound than the internal energy Ouyang Jue possessed and had borrowed blocked the path to the Small Heavenly Circulation.
He was surely trying to stop him, wary that he might suffer a grave internal injury or fall into Qi Deviation.
However, Ouyang Jue brushed aside Jeong Jung-san's extended hand. Tranquility was not something that suited him.
He would only sharpen the edge of his spear and press forward.
Sensing his firm resolve, Jeong Jung-san spoke.
*…You.*
But Ouyang Jue did not listen.
Instead, as if determined to see it through before the spiritual energy of the Small Purple Spirit Elixir dissipated, he sharpened his intent even further.
This sequence of events was clearly a dangerous development.
If things went wrong, even Jeong Jung-san himself could be swept up in the Qi Deviation.
This could not be justified simply for the sake of killing two birds with one stone.
If Jeong Jung-san were to withdraw his hand now, the elixir's spiritual energy would scatter haphazardly and burrow deep into his meridians.
If that happened, it would all be for naught unless Ouyang Jue performed the Grand Heavenly Circulation.
Therefore, Jeong Jung-san asked again.
*Will you go?*
*Press.*
In response to the telepathic message, Ouyang Jue answered by stabbing at Jeong Jung-san's power once with the tip of his spear.
Even if he were to be reprimanded for his actions later.
It was to follow the path of righteousness and principle he wished to walk.
At that, Jeong Jung-san felt a slight sense of favor toward Ouyang Jue.
If Jeong Jung-san had been the type to weigh profits and losses, he would not have lost his arm in his youth.
*Let's go, then!*
‘…Thankfully, it seems he understands.’
Satisfied, Ouyang Jue accepted Jeong Jung-san's power and gazed at the wall blocking the Small Heavenly Circulation.
It was seventy percent.
The probability that Jeong Jung-san would accept his will.
In other words, there was a thirty percent chance he would withdraw his hand and inflict a harsh punishment upon him.
A harsh punishment would surely mean crippling his dantian or severing the tendons in his limbs, so he had to consider that as well.
Considering the gravity of a Mount Hua Protector's position, the probability of both was also high.
Nevertheless, Ouyang Jue rolled the dice.
The stake was Ouyang Jue himself.
The reason he rolled the dice was his experience of having 'a little' conversation with the Jeong Jung-san of his past life.
It was truly a terrible gamble.
Yet, even though his move had succeeded, Ouyang Jue showed no sign of relief.
Ouyang Jue grabbed Jeong Jung-san's hand, which was extending from his back, and pulled.
“Hmm.”
Jeong Jung-san let out a sound of brief surprise at the suction power, uncharacteristic of a junior, but he was not flustered.
It only meant Ouyang Jue's will was that firm; he merely looked at the young disciple with even more admiration.
Finally.
They collided.
Thud, thuddd!
A smear of blood spread from the corner of Ouyang Jue's mouth. But he did not stop.
Ouyang Jue grabbed the beast called fear by the head and forced it down.
‘One more time.’
He sharpened the blunted edge once more and gathered the internal energy that had been scattered to pieces.
He then cleared away the blood clots that had formed from the last impact.
To shatter the wall blocking the Ren and Du meridians, he needed to remove as many obstacles as possible.
And so, once again.
Ouyang Jue slammed into the wall with all his might.
Kwwaaang-!
“…Keuk.”
Beyond it, he could faintly see.
It was the task of expanding the narrow reservoir of his dantian into the realm of a river.
Until the vessel Ha Jin-ak had widened for him became an even larger bowl.
One to three more times.
Ouyang Jue made his calculation and prepared to charge the wall again.
Just then.
“…I shall help as well.”
*Touch.*
Someone placed a hand on his back.
He could feel a wrinkled palm, thick with the dust and winds of a long life, against his skin.
From the feel of the internal energy that seeped in, Ouyang Jue realized who it was.
It was Bai Duanxian, who had guided him here.
‘At this rate, there's no way I can fail.’
Ouyang Jue no longer bothered counting the attempts.
It was possible in a single try.
As long as he didn't lose consciousness and didn't lose his edge, he could break through the Small Heavenly Circulation and achieve metamorphosis with the remaining spiritual energy of the Small Purple Spirit Elixir.
Thud, thud! Grrrr…….
Ouyang Jue was overcome with the pleasure of his energy surging through his entire body as it cleared the Ren and Du meridians.
Although he had experienced this once before, the feeling was so incredible it could be counted among the greatest moments of his life.
“…Ahhh!”
With this, Ouyang Jue's essence, qi, and spirit were all perfected, more than worthy of being called the peak.
Jeong Jung-san removed his hand from Ouyang Jue's back, his face filled with satisfaction.
“Reaching the peak at seventeen. A true prodigy of Mount Hua!”
Ouyang Jue was soaked in emotion for a moment, then let out a small laugh as he felt the feelings wash away.
‘Are you saying I still have a long way to go?’
The enemies he would face in the future.
And considering what was to come, the peak realm was far from enough.
He also needed companions who would walk the same path and look toward the same goal.
“…Huh?”
While lost in these thoughts, Ouyang Jue was startled by a wave of qi he felt from a distance.
The atmosphere had vibrated greatly due to a martial artist's sudden rise in realm.
It was the same for Bai Duanxian and Jeong Jung-san.
“It's Zhangming?”
“Haha, so there were two prodigies.”
While Ouyang Jue had reached the peak through a fortuitous encounter, Liu Zhangming had ascended to the peak realm on his own.
And not in the Protector's hidden residence, but within the Mount Hua Sect itself.
Ouyang Jue imagined what Liu Zhangming must be going through right now and grinned like a mischievous child.
‘Well, you'll have to get used to people fawning over you, Senior Brother.’
Maybe I'll go watch the show.
Ouyang Jue gave a deep bow to Jeong Jung-san and Bai Duanxian, then shot toward the Mount Hua Sect like an arrow.
* * *
‘What in the world is going on?’
Liu Zhangming looked at the senior brothers surrounding him and scratched the back of his head in bewilderment.
While training with Jo Hun in Ouyang Jue's absence, he had suddenly gained an insight, and after exploring it, he found the answer and reached the peak.
He had explained this repeatedly, but for some reason, his senior brothers wouldn't let him go easily.
Instead, they tried to liven up the atmosphere to a strange degree.
“That's incredible!”
“So, what was this insight?”
What was the insight?
Liu Zhangming couldn't answer that question.
Ironically, he had forgotten it the moment he'd understood it.
It didn't even remain in his subconscious.
It was as if he wasn't meant to know it anymore, completely erased from his mind.
What was even stranger was…….
‘At the end, I think I felt something… affectionate.’
Liu Zhangming tilted his head once, then answered the senior brother who had asked.
“I've forgotten.”
“……What?”
“Because I forgot it the moment I understood it.”
His words, reminiscent of a Zen koan, made the senior brothers think of the Shaolin's Diamond Sutra.
In other words, they were words that were not easily understood.
Noticing their expressions, Liu Zhangming calmly observed his own state again.
“I feel as if I've just now obtained something… It's difficult to answer without organizing my thoughts.”
“Is that so?”
At his words, the senior brothers expressed their disappointment but didn't show any undue irritation.
Instead, they praised Liu Zhangming as if he were someone great.
“To reach the peak at the mere age of twenty-one!”
“Haha, it seems the Three Pure Ones favor you, Junior Brother Liu.”
Such talk, once it started, tended to continue until it burned itself out, and Liu Zhangming's face turned beet red, unable to hide his discomfort.
‘My senior and junior brothers, they all think too highly of me.’
This situation felt utterly unfamiliar to him.
He was the same Liu Zhangming as yesterday.
Nothing had changed; even his clothes and sword were still the same.
And yet, just because his realm had risen by one level, they were elevating his worth this much.
Liu Zhangming was happy about it, but on the other hand, it didn't sit well with him.
‘They never seemed this interested in martial arts before. But today, they're especially…’
Then, Liu Zhangming's gaze turned to Jo Hun.
Compared to before, his cheeks had filled out, and his body was gradually getting chubbier.
‘Is this the wind my junior brother has stirred up?’
Liu Zhangming recalled Ouyang Jue's deeds.
He had exposed the corruption of the Golden Ring Merchant Guild, recovering wealth that was about to rot away in the hands of villains, and in the Nine Dragons Tournament, he had made a name for himself and obtained a famous sword that even the elders envied.
On top of that, rumors spread that he had beheaded the Three Evils of Shaanxi, so Ouyang Jue's reputation within Shaanxi had grown beyond imagination.
‘Perhaps… the newly appointed head of the Golden Ring Merchant Guild, friend Bai Chuan, spread those favorable rumors.’
He hadn't asked for the reason, but Liu Zhangming also knew that Ouyang Jue was exchanging messages with Bai Chuan via carrier pigeon.
‘And he has even inherited the will of our Senior-most Brother.’
*Sigh.*
A sigh escaped Liu Zhangming's lips.
He wasn't even twenty yet, but the weight on Ouyang Jue's shoulders was immense.
‘As his senior brother, I must be of help to him.’
Although he was said to have inherited everything from Ha Jin-ak, he couldn't compare to him, who had now reached the peak.
Liu Zhangming resolved to become a supportive senior brother to Ouyang Jue, just as the Senior-most Brother, Ha Jin-ak, had been.
As his thoughts reached that point, he began to vaguely understand why his senior brothers were trying to liven up the atmosphere.
“Thank you for looking upon me so favorably. However, this is enough praise.”
“…?”
The atmosphere stiffened at his words, which could easily be misconstrued as telling them to stop.
Ouyang Jue was watching this from a distance, holding his breath.
Fame was always like that.
‘They arbitrarily label you an Emperor, a God, or an Immortal, and if you show even a hint of temper, they accuse you of being from the Unorthodox Faction.’
That was why, to Ouyang Jue, fame brought more losses than gains.
He wasn't good to begin with, so gaining an advantage suited his temperament more than being held back by trying to maintain some useless reputation.
‘I wonder what Senior Brother will do.’
Just as Ouyang Jue was watching with interest.
Liu Zhangming opened his lips.
“I cannot be satisfied with the realm of the peak.”
“…”
Then, Liu Zhangming turned his gaze toward the Plum Blossom Infirmary, where Ha Jin-ak was.
“I know you are trying to lift the stagnant mood with my ascent to the peak, but our Senior-most Brother fell while investigating corruption outside. As his junior, how can I simply stand by and watch?”
*Grit.*
At his words, several of the Taoists gritted their teeth.
Some even had tears welling in their eyes, blaming themselves for having momentarily forgotten.
Ha Jin-ak was the Senior-most Brother.
And the Senior-most Brother is a junior elder of the sect.
Such a person had fallen outside due to the Black Dragon Gang's cowardly methods.
Even if Ouyang Jue had inherited his will in the meantime, that fact remained unchanged.
“That is why the peak is not enough.”
Liu Zhangming felt an emotion he had never held before—anger—gradually growing within him.
And he spoke words strongly condensed with that emotion.
“I will become stronger.”
At those words, Ouyang Jue revealed his hidden presence and spoke.
“Of course. You must, Senior Brother.”
Hearing him, Liu Zhangming was so startled by how much stronger Ouyang Jue had become that his jaw dropped, and he had to cover his mouth with his hand.
But with the atmosphere in the Mount Hua Sect now so greatly uplifted, it was hardly the time to discuss it.