Chapter 41
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 41
Ise slowly collected himself.
It took a long time for strength to return to his limbs. After barely managing to push himself to his knees, he offered the formal greeting of a disciple.
"This initiate disciple respectfully asks the Azure Dragon Hall Master for instruction."
Even for a single day, one who offered instruction was a master in all but name.
Hae Il remained seated in midair, looking down at Ise. His gaze slowly swept over Ise’s entire body. Whether he was discerning the amount of spiritual energy or inspecting his constitution, it was a look whose depth Ise could not begin to fathom.
"It really is the Heavenly Demon Dual-Meridian Physique."
It was a quiet murmur. A flicker of something resembling nostalgia crossed his expression before vanishing.
"It seems spending my precious time on an unrefined lad like you will be worth it after all."
"If you grant me your guidance, I will consider it a great honor."
"It's hardly 'guidance.' I'm merely telling you what I know. But before that… let me take a quick look inside your head."
Hae Il touched down from the air and took a step toward Ise. He reached out and pressed his palm to Ise's forehead.
After tilting his head for a moment, his eyes gradually narrowed.
"What in the world have you been carrying around in that head of yours?"
"What do you mean by that…?" Ise asked, confused by the incomprehensible words.
Hae Il offered a warning instead of an answer. "I was wondering why the Heavenly Dao kept nagging me to return when I was busy as hell. It seems meeting me was your fate as well. This is going to hurt a bit."
Hae Il pulled his palm away and flicked his index finger.
At that moment, an explosive pain erupted from deep within Ise’s skull.
"Kugh…!"
It felt as if his brain was being torn apart. Internal pressure surged as if his entire head was swelling, and he could feel his eyeballs about to pop out of their sockets. Warm fluid trickled from his nose and ears. Pain wracked his entire body, twisting it against his will.
"Don't struggle. If you slip up, you'll die."
At Hae Il's words, Ise clenched his teeth.
What on earth is he doing…?
Soon, the pain in his head receded, and his vision flashed pure white. Through his fading consciousness, he felt the skin on his forehead wriggle, as if something was pushing its way out from the inside.
The next moment, accompanied by an ear-splitting tear of agony, something tiny writhed and burst out of his ear canal.
"You held on well."
Hae Il moved his hand, restoring Ise's damaged brain and eardrum. Only then did Ise's clouded consciousness return.
"...?"
A bug no larger than a fingernail lay on the ground. Resembling some sort of larva, it was a grotesque insect he had never seen before, its pitch-black segments and legs squirming.
The moment the insect popped out, Hae Il made a gesture. He trapped the writhing bug in midair and forced it into a glass bottle he had pulled from his storage pouch. Placing a finger on the mouth of the bottle, chains made of spiritual energy wrapped around it.
Wiping the blood from his chin, Ise stared at the glass bottle.
That thing was inside my head?
"This is a type of demon ghost commonly known as a Gu."
Gu. A venomous insect implanted inside a person's head or body. He knew it was usually used to control or suppress someone.
"I'll have to study it properly at the main mountain to know the details," Hae Il said, raising the glass bottle to eye level. "Impressive that you managed to advance your realm carrying a thing like this around. Given how deeply rooted it was, it must have been planted a very long time ago."
Inside the glass bottle, the insect’s outer shell writhed in a desperate struggle.
"Have you ever encountered a demonic cultivator?"
"I did fight a Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator recently, but…"
"A mere Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator couldn't have planted this," Hae Il's voice dropped low. "Someone at least at the late Core Formation Stage planted this a very long time ago, hiding it with great care. That's why neither Mongryeon nor Kang I-tae was able to detect it."
Late Core Formation Stage.
Someone had planted a Gu inside Ise's head—one so meticulously hidden that even Great Cultivators at the level of Hall Masters couldn't sense it.
When? Who could it have been?
Hae Il closed his eyes as if tracing his memories, lost in thought before continuing. "The suspects are few enough to count on one hand across the entire Eastern Continent. I have a rough idea who it might be, but the important thing isn't 'who,' but 'why.' Tell me everything about your life, starting from your earliest memory."
Ise slowly reflected on his life, recounting everything he remembered—from his earliest memories and the stories his adoptive parents told him of his childhood, to joining the Great Martial Dao and reaching the present.
Hae Il simply listened with his arms folded, without a single question or interjection. When Ise finished his story, Hae Il gave a single, understanding nod.
"Keep quiet about this. And forget it without giving it another thought. This is not a matter you can get involved in at your level."
"Yes. I will focus on my cultivation."
Satisfied with Ise's answer, Hae Il shifted the topic. "By the way, you were adopted, you say? Could it be that the Dao Master had a child?"
"Pardon?"
"That constitution is an inherited trait passed down through bloodlines. That's why even when those old mountain deity monsters nagged him to take a Dao companion, he pretended to be an invalid. I thought the lineage had ended… With whom, I wonder?"
Ise kept his mouth shut. His head understood what ‘the bloodline of the Great Martial Dao Master’ meant, but his heart couldn't quite accept it. Even if it was passed down by bloodline, it was possible someone else with the same constitution existed somewhere.
"May I ask you to tell me more about my constitution?"
"That's why I came, so there's no need to be so cautious."
Even though Hae Il said that, the difference in their realms was far too vast. Feeling a gap in stature that made even breathing difficult, Ise finally came to deeply understand the respect owed to cultivation realms.
"I don't know everything, but I'll tell you all I do. First, the core of this constitution is that both spiritual energy and demonic energy flow simultaneously through your spirit veins. Because of that, it possesses six distinct traits."
Hae Il unfolded his fingers one by one as he spoke.
"First, it is a constitution capable of using both a cultivator's cultivation arts and a demon's devouring methods."
"Second, when you break through a major realm, the evil karma you've accumulated will not affect your Heavenly Tribulation."
"Third, regardless of your spirit root attributes, you can learn all types of dharma spells."
"Fourth, you must continue your cultivation while maintaining the harmony of yin and yang."
"Fifth, your cultivation speed rivals that of a Single Spirit Root Cultivator."
"Sixth, it is a constitution inherited through bloodline. The probability of it manifesting is unknown."
Ise frantically absorbed the information pouring over him, etching it into his mind. He felt as though a thirst he had carried for so long was finally being quenched.
Carefully mulling over the six traits, Ise asked, "May I be permitted to ask a question?"
"Granted."
"What precisely does it mean that evil karma does not affect the Heavenly Tribulation?"
"It's literal. Whether you murder people, hunt spirit beasts, drink medicinal pills like wine, or break the principles of the Dao, there will be no change in the Heavenly Tribulation you must face."
"If there is no change to the Heavenly Tribulation, that means it still exists… Does that mean it is weak?"
"Quite the opposite." Hae Il stared straight at Ise with a faint smirk. "The Heavenly Tribulation you have to face is near maximum difficulty from the start. It's not that accumulating evil karma has no effect; it's that even if you don't accumulate any, you get struck as if you've committed heinous evil."
Ise's expression froze. "But Hall Master Hong Mi-hui said it was a constitution that had no Heavenly Tribulation…"
"That information was wrong."
Wrong information? Hall Master Hong Mi-hui was mistaken?
"Whenever the Dao Master broke through a major realm, he crossed the line between life and death. He overcame the Heavenly Tribulation in secret and acted as if nothing had happened, afraid that everyone would worry. I stood guard for him every time he faced it, so I would know best."
Ise was struck speechless. It wasn't that there was no Heavenly Tribulation; rather, it was the most heavily burdened constitution of all. No matter how outstanding one's talent was, what good was it if one died while attempting to cross into a major realm?
Hae Il gave a dry chuckle as he watched the despondent Ise. "That's why the Dao Master went around beating to death anyone he disliked. He figured if he was going to face such a tribulation anyway, he might as well not feel cheated."
"..."
"Back in my day, it was an era of such savagery and romance. Good times."
Somehow, Ise felt he could understand.
"What does it mean to balance yin and yang?"
"Let's take an ordinary constitution as an example. From the mid-Qi Refining Stage onward, cultivation requires balancing elemental attributes. For a Water and Wood Two-Spirit Root Cultivator, they must equalize their progress in Water Attribute and Wood Attribute cultivation arts so that the attributes in their spirit roots reach a precise harmony before they can advance their realm."
Ise listened quietly. This was something he had read about in the Ghost-Banishing Spirit-Purging Qi Refining Art.
"You don't need to balance attributes, but you must balance the spiritual energy and demonic energy within your body."
"Does that mean balancing the exact quantities of spiritual and demonic energy?"
"Not just the quantity, but also your mastery of the arts. In every realm, you must master at least one cultivation art representing Yang and one demonic art representing Yin."
Ise nodded in understanding, though a doubt lingered. "I belong to the Great Martial Dao. Is it acceptable for me to practice demonic arts?"
"If anyone asks, tell them you're a Dokkaebi."
"...Pardon?"
"Since you're the kid Mongryeon took in, there happens to be something suitable. Hold on."
With that, Hae Il released a messenger talisman into the air. It vanished as if rending space itself, and a reply returned a short while later. Checking the response, Hae Il let out a dry laugh.
"Her temper is as fiery as ever."
The phrasing clearly referred to Mongryeon, and Ise wore a curious expression. Seeing that Ise didn't dare ask, clearly fond of Mongryeon, Hae Il chuckled and explained the contents of the message.
"I told her you have the same constitution as the Dao Master and asked if you were his child. She sent back a whole barrage of curses. How does a Dokkaebi curse so naturally, just like a human?"
Unconsciously, the corners of Ise's lips curled up. He could vividly picture Mongryeon hurling curses. "She may not be my birth mother, but she is like a mother to me."
Chuckling, Hae Il pulled two cultivation manuals from his storage pouch and set them before Ise.
Dogwi Shadow-Gathering Demonic Art
The manual on the right was a name Ise was already familiar with.
"The Dogwi Shadow-Gathering Demonic Art is a demonic art practiced by the Dogwi Tribe from the Qi Refining Stage to the Foundation Establishment Stage. I have Mongryeon's permission, so feel free to learn it."
"Master…"
Hae Il pointed to the second cultivation manual. "The other one is the secret cultivation art of the Great Martial Dao Master, known as the Yin-Yang Origin Return Art."
At Hae Il's words, Ise's body stiffened. The secret technique of the Great Martial Dao Master. That meant it was a manual exclusive to the Heavenly Demon Dual-Meridian Physique. Wasn't this precisely what he needed most? Could he truly accept something so precious?
As expected of a Nascent Soul Great Cultivator, his generosity is on another level.
Filled with admiration, Ise carefully opened the manual. On the first page, along with the title Yin-Yang Origin Return Art, a brief preface was written.
A cultivation art that allows a constitution capable of wielding both spiritual and demonic energy to form 'Origin Qi,' maximizing its power and ultimately leading to ascension.
With trembling hands, Ise attempted to turn to the next page, but it wouldn't budge. It was sealed, much like the secret manuals from the bookstore.
"I didn't say I'd let you read it."
"..."
Hae Il burst into laughter upon seeing Ise's expression, which resembled that of a puppy whose bone had just been snatched away. Unable to harbor any resentment, Ise could only stare at his senior, on the verge of tears.
"Just kidding. I can't break the seal either. This consists of three volumes, and the seal only unlocks when all three are gathered. This is the upper volume. I don't know the whereabouts of the middle and lower volumes. The reason I roam the continent is to find them."
Hae Il placed the Yin-Yang Origin Return Art secret manual back into his storage pouch. "If I manage to find them all, I'll let you take a look as well."
"Thank you for your grace." Ise bowed his head deeply. He had merely been promised a day of instruction as the chief's reward for the initiation exam, yet the Great Cultivator before him was giving him far, far more.
"However, promise me that you will complete three tasks I assign you."
Ise raised his head, a look of grim determination on his face, ready to accomplish whatever was demanded.
"First," Hae Il raised a finger, "raise your realm quickly. The standard… hm, Woo Yu-hee should suffice. Break all her shortest-time records. If you are of the Dao Master's bloodline, that much is only natural."
"Am I truly of the Dao Master's bloodline?"
"How should I know? Second," Hae Il held up a second finger instead of answering. "You must become my blade."
"By 'blade,' you mean…?"
"Once you reach the Core Formation Stage, slaughter every Core Formation Cultivator in the Jeong Kingdom."
It was a harsh statement to come from the mouth of a Daoist. Instead of answering, Ise waited for him to continue.
"Recently, I was ambushed by thirty Core Formation Cultivators. Those bastards think that as long as I'm gone, they can sweep away the Great Martial Dao. It would be easier to just kill them all, but as I am facing the Soul Transformation Stage, I don't want to accumulate unnecessary killing karma. So I'm holding back."
Soul Transformation Stage. The very final stage one could reach in the Mortal Realm. Far beyond respect, Ise felt sheer awe toward that unfathomable realm.
"So, you kill them."
Ise remained silent. To become his blade—it meant destroying the enemies of the Great Martial Dao in his place. Ise had prided himself on being cold-blooded enough to commit murder if necessary, yet a task demanding he kill those against whom he harbored no personal grudge was hardly pleasant. However, the cultivators of the Jeong Kingdom aimed for the downfall of the Great Martial Dao. They were a threat that would destroy his world.
"If possible, I shall do so."
Satisfied with the answer, Hae Il announced the final task. "And lastly—"
A third finger went up.
"Sire descendants. The more, the better."
"...Pardon?"
Despite the dead-serious tone of his voice, Ise could only blurt out a dumbfounded response.