Chapter 287
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 287
Chapter Title: Primordial...
One of the five pieces.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
It was an absolute martial art capable of dominating the world on its own.
Though called one of five pieces, it was the largest among them.
It was a technique without fear in the world, one that had placed the martial realm beneath its feet twice.
The change in the Heavenly Demon Divine Art occurred two hundred years ago.
They had found and recovered one piece of the Void.
But when they tried to merge the recovered piece into the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, it wouldn't budge.
Then, another hundred years passed.
The leader of that era discovered one piece.
A cult leader recorded in the history of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult as a genius among geniuses.
Jegal Mugun.
As his name suggested, he hailed from the Jegal Clan.
Branded a traitor to his clan, he joined the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and rose to the position of leader through his exceptional talents.
That time marked the darkest period for the Jegal Clan.
Jegal Mugun realized that the piece he had found was not from the Void.
Diving deep into the Void Art, he came to understand the existence of the Primordial Six Divine Arts and left a record of it.
That was why the leaders of the Demonic Cult knew of the Primordial Six Divine Arts.
As Seok Cheon-gyeong examined the successive cult leaders in order,
he scrutinized the records left by Jegal Mugun in greater detail.
Yet there was nothing he had missed.
It was just the knowledge he already possessed.
Information solely about the Primordial Six Divine Arts.
"Are there truly no other records from Elder Jegal...?"
With lingering regret, he checked once more.
Nothing.
"Hoo."
A deep sigh.
"One would think someone of his caliber must have left something behind."
A once-in-millennia prodigy, a genius among geniuses.
Two of the Demonic Cult's Eight Great Heart Methods had been created by Jegal Mugun.
Before him, they had been among the Great Demonic Cult Heart Methods.
The moment that thought crossed his mind,
Seok Cheon-gyeong activated the Asura Thunder Spirit Return Heart Method on a hunch.
At that instant.
Wuuuuuung.
There was a reaction.
The records personally penned by Jegal Mugun.
A faint light seemed to emanate from the book.
Seok Cheon-gyeong opened the book again.
Faint new words appeared overlaid on the existing text.
Instinctively, he concentrated his inner energy into his eyes.
Clear new characters emerged.
Seok Cheon-gyeong became immersed in the content.
He remained motionless for a full half shichen.
"Hah...?"
A deep sigh.
"To think he arranged it all like this... what a way to hide it."
His words mingled lamentation and joy.
Had it not been concealed this way, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult would not have lost the recent war.
Even now that it was found, they could place the martial world beneath their feet once more.
Such were his complex emotions.
"Primordial... Primordial... To think the 'Return to Origin' of the Asura Thunder Spirit Return Heart Method was that."
It was a piece of the Primordial Six Divine Arts, but not from the Void.
In the process of delving to uncover its true nature, Jegal Mugun grasped the key to the Primordial Six Divine Arts.
He realized it was a piece of Primordial Chaos.
He added the Primordial Chaos piece to the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
That became the current Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
Afterward, he created an inner heart method that resonated with traces of the Primordial Six Divine Arts.
That was the Asura Thunder Spirit Return Heart Method.
Return to Origin.
The meaning of returning to the root source.
The meaning of returning to the Primordial.
The Asura Thunder Spirit Return Heart Method was outstanding enough on its own to rank among the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's Eight Great Heart Methods.
But that was not its true essence.
Rather,
it was an inner heart method designed to seek out and connect the pieces of the Primordial Six Divine Arts.
"Hah, haha. Hahaha."
After reading everything.
Seok Cheon-gyeong let out a hollow laugh.
Jegal Mugun.
Why on earth
had he hidden and arranged it all so meticulously?
He couldn't know.
There was no record of that.
Had he simply passed this knowledge to his successors,
the current world would be under the heel of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
"At least I've obtained this arrangement now."
Muttering to himself,
Seok Cheon-gyeong thought of his disciple Sima Hu-do.
He hadn't expected much,
yet the boy had achieved great merit.
It had all started with him bringing back the manual called the Void Heaven Subduing Art.
"Ha Mu-baek. Wait for me."
Muttering lowly, Seok Cheon-gyeong headed back to the seclusion chamber.
It was time to merge the two Void pieces he possessed into the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
And he needed to find the other pieces as well.
They didn't have to be Void pieces.
Any piece would do.
As long as it was a piece of the Primordial Six Divine Arts.
Seok Cheon-gyeong resolved to teach the Asura Thunder Spirit Return Heart Method to his disciples and son as he walked.
Kwakwakwakwa boom!!
Hyeon Hwang dashed forward, creating a deafening roar through the air.
Straight toward Mount Mokran.
Five days was too short.
From Mount Song to Mount Mokran was a full 1,200 li.
Even for Hyeon Hwang, his inner energy wasn't infinite.
He had to account for rest time as well.
Factoring that in, it would take a full day to reach Mount Mokran.
There was no guarantee the target was still at Mount Mokran.
And time for tracking afterward.
"So tight. So damn tight. That bastard senior brother of mine."
Hyeon Hwang grumbled as he ran at full speed.
In his wake, a gale-force wind raged.
Umun Garyul obtained suitable arrows and a sword from a forge at the base of Mount Hyeong and raced toward Mount Mokran.
Gritting her teeth.
She ran at full throttle without a moment's rest.
The thought that every moment she delayed brought the Shaolin monks closer to Yeon-a fueled her utmost effort.
From Mount Hyeong to Mount Mokran was 1,300 li.
Running flat out without rest, she could cover it in a day.
The problem came after.
From what Mun In-baek-song had told her, there was the Ten Thousand Transformations Mask and the Seven Colors Sealing Bracelet.
Finding traces of her daughter wouldn't be easy.
But Mun In-baek-song had mentioned something about that.
A remarkable expert had promised to help.
He might be tracking her daughter's traces right now.
Joining up with him was an option.
'Ha Mu-baek, was it?'
A familiar name.
She had once helped a child named Mu-baek.
How could she forget?
The brief delay in helping that child had led to her tragic current situation.
That was why she was imprisoned now.
Yet she harbored no regrets.
She was merely curious.
Whether that child had survived safely afterward.
Whether the frail girl was alright.
'Lan, she said.'
A girl around the same age as her own daughter, Hwi-yeon.
She had looked so sickly that she couldn't bring herself to leave.
'I hope those children are safe too.'
All she knew were the names Mu-baek and Lan.
They were wandering children.
No way to know where they were.
Years had passed.
She could only hope they had grown into adults safely.
She knew nothing of Ha Mu-baek, this righteous faction expert.
He had emerged years after her imprisonment.
Of course, she didn't know his face.
'You'll recognize him at once. He's an arrogant, overbearing bastard. Of course, he's a monster who deserves it.'
That was Mun In-baek-song's description.
For him to call the man a monster piqued her curiosity about what kind of person he was.
And she hoped.
Hoped that he was properly tracking her daughter Hwi-yeon's traces.
Not even time for a sip of water.
Not even a moment to close her eyes for sleep.
Umun Garyul ran and ran and ran at full speed without rest.
Upon entering An-hui Province, Gongya Hwi-yeon immediately turned south.
Heading straight for Jiangxi Province.
It was a grueling journey.
As she moved along the official road, she glanced at her wrists.
The Seven Colors Sealing Bracelet hidden beneath her long sleeves.
'I've come this far... should I just release it?'
A powerful temptation.
The intense sun blazed down from the blue sky.
Her entire body was drenched in sweat.
When the sweat cooled, her skin grew sticky all over.
It was truly hard to endure.
The heat.
Right now, it was her greatest enemy and torment.
If only she had inner energy.
She could escape the heat to some degree.
Such a powerful temptation beckoned her.
The Shaolin monks were far away.
No matter how skilled they were, they couldn't detect her sealed energy from afar.
By now, it was surely safe to release the Seven Colors Sealing Bracelet.
Soon, Gongya Hwi-yeon shook her head.
An-hui Province, An-chang.
Just get there.
It bordered the Yangtze River.
Once there, she could board a boat.
No traces left behind.
Take a boat up the Yangtze, detour through Poyang Lake to Nan-chang.
From Nan-chang, head southwest into Hunan Province toward Mount Hyeong.
There had to be boats from An-chang to Nan-chang.
Boarding one would mean passing the greatest hurdle.
No more suffering in this heat.
Once entering Poyang Lake, she could release the Seven Colors Sealing Bracelet.
"Just a little longer. Don't give in."
Gongya Hwi-yeon slapped her cheeks to steel her resolve once more.
Ha Mu-baek gazed at the official road.
This path led to An-hui Province.
"Hmm."
A map unfurled in Ha Mu-baek's mind.
The local geography sprang to mind instantly.
He needed to deduce why Gongya Hwi-yeon had set her course toward An-hui.
Being pursued by Shaolin monks, she naturally had to avoid Henan.
Initially, she had planned to hide briefly before returning to the Dragon Training Pavilion.
Her possible directions were An-hui or Jiangxi.
But the Shaolin monks moving from the Mount Mokran side had likely driven her toward An-hui.
And midway, she discarded her bow and pressed on to Nan-chang.
'She fully grasps the gravity of the situation.'
Would she still try to return to the Dragon Training Pavilion for the Eastern Tournament?
Ha Mu-baek shook his head slightly.
A clever girl like Gongya Hwi-yeon would know it was time to abandon that and return to the Blood Flower Union.
If the Shaolin monks caught her by any chance,
Shaolin would gain a precious prisoner to hold over the Blood Flower Union.
Routes from An-hui to Mount Hyeong in Hunan.
And Gongya Hwi-yeon's current state.
'Dressed as a man, with her inner energy sealed.'
Ha Mu-baek looked up at the sky.
The scorching sun beat down.
"Hard for a woman to travel in that state."
Ha Mu-baek eventually found the inn where Gongya Hwi-yeon, disguised as a man, had stayed.
From the errand boy there, bribed with a few coins,
he learned she had worn thick martial robes unsuitable for the weather to conceal her body as much as possible.
That detail had stuck in the boy's memory.
Clothing mismatched for the season.
She wouldn't release the Seven Colors Sealing Bracelet.
It wouldn't be easy, but
the Gongya Hwi-yeon that Ha Mu-baek knew would endure somehow.
"Still, she'd seek a more comfortable path that leaves no traces if possible."
Ha Mu-baek's eyes gleamed.
"Waterway, then."
Her destination crystallized in his mind.
Nan-chang in Jiangxi Province.
A large city by Poyang Lake.
From there, she'd take land routes to Mount Hyeong.
So, where would she board a boat?
Among feasible spots from her current path, the nearest was...
"An-chang."
Gongya Hwi-yeon's traces had already faded to near invisibility.
To sense her presence with spiritual sense while wearing the Seven Colors Sealing Bracelet, he'd need to be in the same village at minimum.
Ha Mu-baek dashed along the official road.
Rather than chasing her now-invisible traces,
he planned to arrive first at his deduced spot and wait.
Ha Mu-baek unfolded the Radiant Thousand-Li Stride and ran.
Late at night.
Hyeon Hwang camped out and slept.
After two shichen of sound sleep, he set off again.
"Hm?"
A group caught in his spiritual sense.
Shaolin monks.
"Heh heh heh. Must be the ones senior brother sent to catch those unorthodox bastards."
Hyeon Hwang bypassed Mount Mokran and headed toward them.
There might be information to glean from them.
Kwakwakwakwa boom!
Hyeon Hwang accelerated his lightness skill toward the group at the Hubei-Anhui border.
The result of running without pause.
Umun Garyul had nearly reached Mount Mokran.
At that moment.
"Wh-what is that?"
She halted, eyes widening.
She, who had run ceaselessly searching for her daughter, had no choice but to stop.
An enormous energy had entered her spiritual sense.
It was beyond her sensing range.
Yet so overwhelmingly powerful that she felt it.
An energy rapidly passing Mount Mokran.
Her body shivered.
It wasn't merely ferocious.
It was gloomy and ominous.
Even she, an unorthodox warrior, shuddered at its foreboding nature.
'Ominous.'
Passing Mount Mokran, so the thought arose.
For some reason, it felt connected to her daughter.
Umun Garyul kicked off the ground.
This time, pursuing that gloomy, ominous presence.