Chapter 119
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: Are You Going to Use It All?
The light aura enveloping Wi Ji-gun was different from Ha Mu-baek's.
Unlike Ha Mu-baek's, which brimmed with pristine white immortal energy, this one shimmered with a subtle blue hue.
The gentle glow that had wrapped around Wi Ji-gun was slowly drawn into his nostrils.
At the same moment, changes rippled through his body.
His skin didn't slough off like Ha Mu-baek's had.
Instead, the wrinkles on his face smoothed and faded away. He hadn't had many to begin with, so now he looked young enough to pass for middle-aged.
If not for his snow-white hair and beard.
His eyes slowly fluttered open.
"Congratulations, Master."
"Congratulations, Master!"
Wi Ji-gun responded to Ha Mu-baek and Ha Seol-ran's greetings with a soft smile.
"I set out to aid your training, only to shatter my own wall in the process. Didn't quite make it all the way through, mind you. Heh heh."
"Elder, congratulations on your achievement."
"Thank you, Instructor Han."
Wi Ji-gun nodded at Han Seol-bing's words.
"So, how did it go for you? Reach the end?"
"Yes. All thanks to Master's consideration."
Ha Mu-baek replied with a bright grin.
Han Seol-bing glanced around and spoke up.
"You smashed this place to bits, but this is the Corps Leader at full throttle?"
"No, not full power. Still, I got a precise read on his strength."
Ha Mu-baek answered matter-of-factly.
Han Seol-bing stared in disbelief.
"What do you say? Up for another round?"
Wi Ji-gun asked, a sly smile playing on his lips.
"No need. That's plenty. Somehow, all the gaps in my senses have been corrected."
"Good. Truth be told, I wasn't keen on pushing this old body any further."
Wi Ji-gun patted his waist, his rejuvenated form belying the words.
No one bought it.
"More importantly, how'd you end up here? And what was that about a familiar feeling?"
Ha Mu-baek's question turned toward Han Seol-bing and Ha Seol-ran.
"Seol-ran insisted we come. Said it felt familiar, like we had to see for ourselves."
"Let me take a look. Extend your wrist."
Ha Seol-ran held out her left wrist at Wi Ji-gun's request.
He closed his eyes, grasping her pulse point.
After probing her internals for a moment.
He opened his eyes and gazed at Ha Seol-ran with fresh astonishment.
"You two siblings... you're something else."
"W-what's wrong?"
Ha Seol-ran asked, a hint of fear in her eyes.
"Nothing bad. Nothing at all. You've got a natural gift for qi sense. It stayed hidden behind your Seven Yin Severed Meridians all this time, but the seed's finally sprouted. Seeing Mu-baek break through his wall last time must've triggered it."
Ha Seol-ran's eyes went wide.
She had no clue what he meant.
"A natural gift for qi sense?"
"A talent like your eyes, but distinct."
Wi Ji-gun nodded at Ha Mu-baek's query.
"Master that, and you'll sense far beyond your current range."
Ha Mu-baek's eyes bulged.
Impossible.
His qi sense already spanned vast distances.
From the Dragon Training Pavilion, he could now reach the shores of Dongting Lake.
True, that came after shattering his wall, and it took serious effort to stretch that far.
But Seol-ran, barely into her training, surpassing that?
Ha Mu-baek couldn't wrap his head around it.
He knew too well how grueling it was to extend qi sense.
"Can't believe it, eh? She sensed this place from the Pavilion, didn't she? And with eyes like yours out there, why not her too?"
Only then did Ha Mu-baek regard his junior with newfound respect.
"S-so, purely on qi sense, Seol-ran's above the Corps Leader?"
Han Seol-bing ventured carefully.
Ha Mu-baek and Wi Ji-gun nodded in unison, leaving Han Seol-bing with a face too numb for more shock.
"What in the world are we supposed to do with this..."
A master and disciple who triggered earthquakes.
A cadet who sensed energies across inconceivable distances.
What were these three?
The Central Plains were vast indeed, teeming with eccentrics.
No, this elder hadn't even registered on Bingcheon Palace's intelligence network.
Ha Mu-baek included.
Was this the hidden might of the Central Plains?
The reason Bingcheon Palace clung to the northern fringes?
Complicated thoughts swirled in Han Seol-bing's mind.
The frigid, barren, parched, frozen North Sea.
Visiting the lush Central Plains had crystallized it.
Bingcheon Palace couldn't stay bottled up in the North Sea forever.
One day, they had to push to the fringes of the Central Plains.
Righteous faction, name under the Righteous Heaven Alliance banner, two wars fought.
Yet the Baekdo Society hounded them solely for being an outer realm sect.
That drove Bingcheon Palace to join the New Eight Sects.
"Why the sudden grim face?"
Ha Mu-baek gave Han Seol-bing's shoulder a light tap.
"Oh, it's nothing."
Han Seol-bing shook his head fiercely.
"Alright, time to head back."
At Wi Ji-gun's words, Ha Mu-baek hoisted Ha Seol-ran onto his back.
"Looks like it's finally over."
Beom Il-so muttered, smoothing his furrowed brow.
What the hell was that?
His dust-caked face soured.
An abandoned manor on the far outskirts of Wuchang City.
Beom Il-so had stumbled upon it purely by chance.
After that humiliating defeat left him dazed, he'd wandered Wuchang aimlessly until his feet carried him here.
A husk of a place, thick with eerie vibes, yet he'd felt compelled to step inside.
Such spots held no terror for him.
Childhood memories.
Come a brutal winter, any derelict shack beat freezing on the bare streets.
To cheat death by cold, beggars couldn't be choosers.
Others might deem it a creepy ruin, but somehow, he felt a strange warmth here.
Drew his sword, danced through a sword form, and sanity returned somewhat.
Late-night solo sessions here had become routine since his trip to the Heavenly Sword Sect.
No pass meant sneaking from the Dragon Training Pavilion in plain clothes, scouting varied paths to dodge prying eyes.
One route, learned around semester's start, snaked through a seedy pleasure quarter.
Crowded with all sorts, perfect cover, so he'd stuck to it since.
Even on proper pass days in uniform.
Deep in training trance when a sudden quake shook the ground, dust billowing from the manor's crumbling structures.
Couldn't hold his stance, so he halted.
Midnight loomed.
Regrettable, but return time.
That recent tremor-like rumble had irked him needlessly.
Wasted prime training hours.
Permits came with strings.
Miss curfew, get logged.
Fine with an instructor escort, no pass needed.
But solo pass? Record stuck.
"Does it matter? Already branded slacker by senior bro. Go whole hog, skip return?"
The temptation burned as he muttered.
Play the flake up front, grind full throttle in shadows.
That was Beom Il-so now.
It hadn't been long since he'd flipped the script.
Post-Summer Combat Festival.
Routed by the Fierce Dragon Corps, then Dan Mok Un-roe, the shame back at his sect defying words.
All eyes dripped contempt.
That's when it hit.
No matter how diligently you toiled, one flop could hurl you into the pit.
For the crime of dashed hopes, no less.
Fine then. Never let them hope to begin with.
He resolved.
And started living this way.
"Dan Mok Un-roe. It'll be different this time. Baek Ri-pyeong, you too."
Beom Il-so's eyes blazed.
Running into them today had fired him up more.
And that night.
Beom Il-so didn't return.
Kikikiking! Kuaaaang!
The intricate machinery roared to life with a thunderous clamor.
Running nonstop, the secret vault's black iron door glowed cherry-red.
Only then did the gears grind to a halt.
Gung Do-hyeok approached to inspect the door.
"Damn thing's tough as nails."
Gung Do-hyeok had pinpointed the drilling spot.
Hauled in the gear, got to work.
Vault access barred to all but him.
So he soloed the haul, assembly, operation.
Heavy gear meant for massive traps, now boring the vault door.
Exquisitely delicate task.
One wrong angle, and the vault's mechanisms triggered.
Instant death.
Whole vault collapses.
Recrunched numbers, verified alignment, fired it up.
Kuaaaang.
Another deafening boom.
These days, the Myeolmul Alliance buzzed with unease.
League Lord away, Deputy Lord half-mad with his antics.
Sudden vault racket? Members on edge.
Elders intervened.
Elder Council Head Deung Gun-hyeon tracked down Gung Do-hyeok.
"Deputy Lord! Step out here!"
Caught the brief lull in noise, bellowed with infused qi.
Had to make him react.
"What's the issue?"
Gung Do-hyeok emerged, weariness etched deep.
"What the hell's going on? What madness is this! You know how rattled the league is?"
Deung Gun-hyeon scolded.
"No choice. Brother stashed vital materials inside..."
"What materials?"
"Metal for the sword commissioned by the Righteous Heaven Alliance. Locked in the vault's inner chamber. Needs his blood to open."
"What commission warrants this?"
"Forge a blade for Alliance Leader So Hwi-woong's sixtieth next year."
Facts.
Request landed half a month back.
Alliance Lord's milestone.
Grand festivities planned.
Special sword as gift, commissioned recently.
Time to spare, so prototyping the form.
Settled on millennial cold iron.
But the moment he resolved to breach the vault, swapped to what's inside.
"Why keep the Elder Council in the dark!"
Deung Gun-hyeon erupted.
"Handling it takes ages. Reporting and awaiting approval risks the deadline. Lord's away, so I figured act first, seek ratification after."
"Hmph."
Made sense.
Rare stuff for the Alliance Lord's birthday sword gift.
Deung Gun-hyeon knew exactly what.
"You gonna use it all?"
"Can't hit deadline that way. Just thirty percent mix."
Sound decision.
Start smelting now? Half a year melting alone for one blade.
Tempering? Endless.
"But do we need that stuff?"
Even thirty percent stung.
Fortune's fluke to obtain.
"It's Alliance Leader So Hwi-woong's sixtieth. Deserves no less."
"Hmph... still, millennial ink-gold steel..."